An entertaining game in which our very youthful U18 side took on their Briton Ferry Llansawel equivalents at Llandarcy Park, winning 3-0. Free entry, no teamsheet.
Lots of substitutions and fair number of new faces, but I believe the following line-up and changes are right – with some credit to Jack Chapman and the injured Rohan Davies, both of whom were sitting nearby. We lined up 3-5-2: Ewan Griffiths (s – Kit Margetson 46m); Kiel Higginson (s – Milo Robinson 31m), Iestyn Jones, Osian Williams (s – Teo Minchev 60m); Thomas Searle, Josh Pescatore (s – Kai Rhodes 65m), Harlan Perry (s – Jack Cooper 24m), Caleb Demery (s – Sammy Henia-Kamau 65m), Yori Griffith (s- Beau Evans 65m); Sammy Henia-Kamau (s – Callum Deacon 46m); Morgan Bates.
The Swans side was managed by Ricky King – last season’s U16s coach – and Oliver Jefferies – last season’s U18 assistant. A number of our U18 from last season were being saved for the game with BFL later in the day.
The pleasing news to report is that the academy pipeline is looking very strong. We played a neat game, in often torrential downpours and howling wind.
BFL, who have a strong youth setup, provided creditable opponents and were a little unlucky not to get on the scoresheet themselves.
Henia-Kamau, who shows good close control, put us 1 up on 19 minutes after Yori Griffiths had been denied by a very good save.
On 31 minutes, we lost strapping central defender Kiel Higginson to a 50:50 challenge that he came out worse from. This resulted in a lengthy delay while he got attended to and ultimately stretchered off. Harlan Perry had already had to go off injured before then, although it was in no way an overly physical contest.
Morgan Bates – a Swansea boy who is on BFL’s books – got the 2nd on 40 minutes with a decisive low shot. He’s the brother of Mitchell, who joined the Swans from the same club last season. Caleb Demery is another on BFL’s academy books who guested for us.
Iestyn Jones hooked in a corner on 64 minutes to seal the result.
Promising performances across the pitch: Yori Griffith stood out for me, while Josh Pescatore – a recruit from Tottenham – can spot a probing pass. He played centre midfield today, but can also apparently operate on the wing. Milo Robinson – son of former Welsh international Carl – slotted quickly into midfield and looked very confident on the ball. We also took the opportunity to field a couple of 15 year olds in the 2nd half, both whom made very positive impressions. I’m not sure I’ve spelt ‘Beau’ correctly.
The referee more or less treated it as an U16s match and ended the game on 80 minutes. A good workout for our boys.