A short report of today’s U18s match. I stayed for 65 minutes before making my way across to the funfest due to unfold at the main stadium.
It may be that we were missing players, the starting formation and selection was a little novel – essentially 3-4-1-2 as follows: Kit Margetson; Sam Parker, Jada Mawongo, Arthur Parker; Thomas Woodward, Richard Faakye, Josh Carey, Zane Myers; Aimar Govea; Iwan Morgan, Geoff Bony.
We started like a house on fire and with what appeared to be a deliberate policy of hitting Morgan and Bony early with long low balls to unsettle the visitors, which worked well.
Morgan in particular was full of running and quick to get his shots away.
The Swans took a well-deserved lead on 17 minutes when Morgan cleverly set up Bony to convert from short range.
More goals should have followed as the team dominated the first half, Millwall’s only real opportunities coming from a blocked free kick and subsequent free header wide in added time.
All good at half-time but, for some reason, we elected to change tactics after the interval. We played ourselves into conceding possession and a goal 2 minutes into the 2nd half following a series of suicidal passes in front of our own penalty area.
For the remainder of the time until I had to leave, we continued to create our own problems, our distribution leaving a lot to be desired. Millwall gained confidence and it really only looked a matter of time before we conceded again. It was a pleasant surprise to subsequently learn we managed to get a 2-2 draw from the game.
Iwan Morgan looks a talent – bustling, skilful and a real handful for defenders.
It may be that the side today was missing key players, e.g. Jacob Cook and Dan Watts, it’s performed far better than this during the campaign to date.
As was the case last season, Millwall were a deeply cynical bunch, looking to dive in the penalty area at any opportunity.
Nathan Dyer was among the crowd.