Another encouraging result for our U21 – 4-1 – this time at the main stadium.
The game was preceded by a torrential burst of hailstones, which predictably made the pitch quite slippery.
We lined up 4-1-4-1 and varied positions throughout the 2nd half with substitutions: Remi Mitchell; Harry Jones (sub Joe Thomas 75m), Filip Lissah, Kai Ludvigsen, Sam Leverett; Azeem Abdulai (sub Ben Blythe 87m); Cameron Congreve (sub Ruben Davies 67m), Joel Cotterill, Ben Lloyd, Liam Smith; Josh Thomas (sub Mitchell Bates 75m).
For a while, it looked a close run thing.
We edged the first half, got 2 fortuitous goals – a deflected own goal by United’s Pitan from a Liam Smith pass into the 6 yard box on 21 minutes and a not terribly convincing penalty from Josh Thomas that somehow looped up and over the keeper and into the net.
The visitors, top of the Northern Professional Development League, were big, mobile and athletic. Some of their lads have played both Premiership and EFL football in the past couple of years. While we had lots of possession and neat interplay, United preferred quick breaks through their adventurous wing backs Sachdev and Buyabu. Both combined to great effect to initially equalise on 35 minutes.
Josh Thomas – who’d been put through a couple of times by long Mitchell passes through the United rearguard – was bundled over to give him the penalty chance to put the Swans ahead 5 minutes before half-time.
The Blades really went for it after the interval, pushed hard and gave our U21 a tough quarter of an hour without really creating anything of substance. Things got tetchy along the way, with both Buyabu and Abdulai being booked. It seemed to suit United to break up our play and get in our players’ faces.
We rode it out, players kept their heads, we kept playing football, went close a on a few occasions and finally breached the Sheffield defence again with a crossfield pass that allowed Josh Thomas – who’d drifted out to the right when Ruben Davies came on – to score emphatically from inside the area on 71 minutes.
United looked pretty much spent at this point. The 4th goal 6 minutes from time was really well constructed – Joe Thomas instigating the move from deep inside his own half, releasing Liam Smith to advance forward, with Thomas receiving the return inside the area to beat the keeper.
For the Swans, it was a very strong team performance, everyone played their part. I’d say Azeem Abdulai shone brightest, sometimes languid, but always looking for breaks – and he endured and patiently foraged his way through some tasty challenges.
Mitchell Bates, new from Briton Ferry, but a Swansea boy, quickly slotted into a left sided midfield role with Liam Smith switching to the right. Filip Lissah and Kai Ludvigsen made a balanced pairing, Lissah moving up into midfield to allow Ben Blythe to ease out the game. On another day, Ben Lloyd could have got a hat-trick.
A pleasing victory over a combative opposition, a decent scalp to take.
Sheffield’s coaching staff included former Bradford manager Michael Collins and one-time Everton winger Danny Cadamarteri, whose son Bailey played against our U21 last season with neighbours Sheffield Wednesday.
Refreshing to see another large contingent present of noisy schoolkids on an afternoon out with their overseeing teachers.