A rather strange game for the U21 at a bitterly cold Landore today. 3-0 sounds decisive enough, but the referee’s histrionic performance in the final stages left a sour taste as the match descended into high farce.
It was hard to keep up, but match official Corbett surpassed himself by following up Filip Lissah’s harsh dismissal with bookings for 3 further Swansea players – including goalkeeper Remy Mitchell – and one for Millwall, all in a chaotic last 7 or 8 minutes.
We varied our formation throughout, but started 4-5-1: Remy Mitchell; Harry Jones, Filip Lissah (captain), Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Nathanael Ogbeta (s – Lincoln McFayden 60m); Joe Thomas (s – Richard Faakye 64m), Charlie Veevers (s – Dan Watts 60m), Mitchell Bates, Cameron Congreve, Liam Smith; Kyrell Wilson (s – Ruben Davies 60m). Unused sub: Kit Margetson.
Millwall featured a number of familiar players from previous visits, notably striker and skipper Abdul Abdulmalik – seemingly once a transfer target for us – and tricky playmaker Ariski Hamouchene. Former Swans frontman Kevin Nugent led their team.
Once more, we looked a little light up front, with just Kyrell Wilson leading the line and occasionally being joined by Liam Smith and Cameron Congreve. Joe Thomas was seeing a lot of the ball on the right and getting decent first time crosses over. Joe got his head to a loose ball in the air close to goal only to see a Millwall defender hook the ball off the line.
We created a number of opportunities and finally got our reward in the 36th minutes when Congreve’s lofted pass found Ogbeta in space and onside in the box. Nat took the ball inside a defender, thought about shooting, but instead laid the ball into Charlie Veevers’s path for a tap-in.
We could and should have placed some distance between the sides, when Smith was bundled over in the area 5 minutes later. Goalkeeper George Evans got a good hand to Smith’s penalty to keep it at 1-0.
Fortunately, another quick, incisive move involving Thomas and Veevers set Kyrell Wilson up for a brilliant first time curling drive to put us 2 up bang on half-time.
Joe Thomas and Harry Jones had been booked at this stage, but that was simply referee Corbett finding his range.
Millwall came out in the 2nd half with renewed purpose, had lots of possession but created little in the way of end product. Right winger Howland was found in space inside our 6 yard box on 55 minutes, but wanted too much time and Mitchell snapped the ball off his feet.
We made and missed further chances – the best falling to Cam Congreve after great work by Lissah and McFayden, but Cam took too long to find his sights and the opportunity was lost. He redeemed himself by taking another feed from Lissah to finish emphatically from the edge of the box – the sort of shot he always has in his locker. 3-0 up on 70 minutes and we looked reasonably comfortable.
Having been cautioned on 50 minutes, Lissah received a 2nd yellow card for a light obstruction with quarter of an hour to go. That – and the referee’s further interventions – changed the whole complexion of the game.
Our 10 players reorganised. The final 10 minutes – plus a further 6 minutes’ added time – was something of a backs to the wall job, with balls flying into the Swans penalty area and plenty of last ditch defending and blocks.
Abdulmalik had earlier in the game hesitated and missed a straightforward one on one with Mitchell when he was gifted a clear run on goal. In the closing stages, he had at least 4 clear strikes – one hit Mitchell full in the face; another from a free kick, after Mitchell’s caution for alleged timewasting, was deflected onto a post. I wouldn’t want his lottery tickets.
Before his removal from the match, Filip Lissah was typically strong in possession and distribution. Prior to being cut down by a Millwall defender (another booking), Joe Thomas looked lively and dangerous. Harry Jones contributed greatly to a variety of roles as we adapted to substitutions and 10 men. Remy Mitchell made some important saves.
A worthy result – and a clean sheet – against an in-form side, in really adverse conditions and difficult circumstances.