A well earned 3-1 victory for our U18s in the rain at Landore ahead of this afternoon’s first team game.
We fielded 2 of our U16 squad, Brogan Popham making his home debut at this level in the absence of Jack Fanning, who’s ill. Although he didn’t feature in the squad advertised on Twitter, Milo Robinson was among our substitutes, Osian Williams dropping out. Milo is the son of former Wales midfielder Carl Robinson and guested for our U18s in a preseason friendly at Llandarcy.
Our 3-4-2-1 line-up: Kit Margetson; Brogan Popham (s – Teo Minchev 84m), Arthur Parker (captain), Iestyn Jones; Thomas Searle (s – Josh Pescatore 46m), Harlan Perry (s – Cameron Llewellyn 69m), Jacob Cook, Aimar Govea; Thomas Woodward, Yori Griffith; Rohan Davies.
Unused subs: Ewan Griffiths, Milo Robinson.
We got off to a perfect start when a loose challenge on Thomas Woodward resulted in a penalty on 3 minutes. Rohan Davies confidently converted to put us 1-0 up.
Our widemen Aimar Govea and Thomas Searle were having a great deal of success getting to the byline and creating lots of openings. Both had efforts either saved or deflected in addition to generating chances for colleagues – Harlan Perry, Yori Griffith and Thomas Woodward all went close as we carried the game to Bournemouth.
We suffered an unexpected setback on 33 minutes when an unforced error gave Cherries centre forward Jonny Stuttle a clear run at goal, which he duly finished clinically. A couple of minutes later, Perry made an outstanding sliding intervention to rob Stuttle in a dangerous position inside our box.
Stuttle and substitute Clarke continued to keep our defenders busy in the 2nd half, but the closest they went to scoring was on the hour – Brogan Popham completing a decisive clearance off the line.
By this time, the Swans had gone back into the lead, Jacob Cook clipping a neat first time shot over the Bournemouth keeper after Griffith had been blocked (in truth probably fouled) in the area. We went 3-1 up through Woodward’s finish from another Govea cross and this seemed a fair reflection of play.
As time went on, the match opened up and our youngsters went close on numerous occasions before the end.
A very creditable result and strong performances throughout the side – Popham should be very satisfied with his home debut; Arthur Parker and Iestyn Jones looked comfortable alongside him; Harlan Perry and Jacob Cook chased and harried opposition players throughout; our wingmen were highly creative; Thomas Woodward was full of running and thoroughly deserved his goal.
Ryan Davies managed today’s team. Although the Bournemouth management team isn’t named on the teamsheet, James Lowy is in charge of the U18s.