A thoroughly entertaining friendly in thoroughly miserable weather!
The meagre crowd had to put up with being fully exposed to the elements – the game was taking place on the open pitch nearest the academy and for which the available cover was unhelpfully roped off.
There were wholesale personnel changes made by Swansea at half-time, by which stage we were convincingly 4-0 to the good. The team maintained a fluid 3-4-3 shape throughout.
The conditions favoured a quick passing game with lots of firm but honest challenges. The tigerish Josh Carey revels in these types of circumstances.
Our front 3 linked really well and had the legs of the Exeter back four. We’d already breached the visitors’ defence to force 3 good saves before Geoff Bony broke away once more on 10 minutes to finish powerfully. Iwan Morgan added 2 similar goals in the 22nd and 33rd minute and completed his hat-trick with another strong shot right on half-time. Myers and Wilson were particularly active in opening up space for Bony and Morgan to move into.
While weak in defence, Exeter threatened occasionally going forward, the nearest they got in the first half was a shot from distance that struck the Swansea crossbar. A header from a corner a couple of minutes into the 2nd half narrowed the scores, but Swansea continued to dominate possession, with numerous chances being created. Cook and Davies went close. On 53 minutes, Mawongo struck the post from close range and could only watch as the ball rebounded back off the helpless keeper only to hit the post again. Seconds later the ball was finally in the net when the Swans pressed and Cam Llewellyn was left with an open goal to slot in the 5th. Although our XI was appreciably slighter without Morgan and Bony, our passing and movement remained swift and pleasing to the eye.
We’ll play stronger sides than Exeter, but both the overall display and particularly the individual performances of any number of players – notably Wilson, Bony, Morgan, Myers and Dan Watts – were very encouraging.
The team(s):
Ben Hughes; David Roberts, Trialist(1), Richard Faakye; Sam Parker, Trialist(2), Josh Carey (captain), Zane Myers; Geoff Bony, Kyrell Wilson, Iwan Morgan.
We featured 2 trialists, both apparently from Fulham, one of whom looked particularly well-suited to our style of play and we may well see again.
All players with the exception of Hughes, Parker, Trialist(1) and Myers were substituted at half-time, with Jack Cooper and Jada Mawongo taking over in central defence, Cameron Llewellyn, Aimar Govea and Dan Watts going into midfield and Rohan Davies and Jacob Cook leading the line. Faakye and Carey reappeared on 69 minutes, with Parker and Myers being withdrawn.
Feature Image Credit: Majestic Media