A comfortable 7-1 opening win for our U18 at the University of South Wales sports complex in Treforest, which is where Pontypridd United play.
The match was played on a grass pitch next door to the 3G turf that the senior Pontypridd side uses for its Cymru League fixtures. The weather took a turn for the worse while the teams were warming up and it absolutely bucketed it down during the first half. There was no shelter, naturally, apart from a few overhanging trees to one side of the pitch. Everyone got drenched.
Pontypridd fielded its U19 academy side, although it was evident there were a number of much younger players introduced during the course of the game.
We fielded a strong starting line-up, with opportunities also given to some trialists in each half. The formation was mostly 4-3-3.
First half line-up: Sam Seager; Osian Williams, Iestyn Jones, Wahab Ojetoro, Callum Deacon; Jacob Cook, Tom Woodward, Harlan Perry; Ramon Rees-Siso, Sammy Henia-Kamau, _______ Colabro.
Second half line-up: Sam Seager; Kiel Higginson, Brogan Popham, Wahab Ojetoro, Billy Clarke; Milo Robinson, Ben? Godfrey, Aidan Higgins; Josh Pescatore, Duncan Ranger, Colabro.
From could be established, Ojetoro is from West Brom, Ranger from West Ham and Colabro has been playing in America. Godfrey is a U16 academy graduate who hasn’t featured at this level before.
We were quickly 2 up in the opening 7 minutes, both goals coming from a lively Henia-Kamau, who was fed chances by Woodward and Rees-Siso respectively.
We controlled possession, with the midfield trio of Cook, Perry and Woodward totally dominant, sound on the ball and imaginative in their passing and forward bursts.
Various chances followed, with the Pontypridd goal leading a charmed life. To be fair, Pontypridd settled and made more of a contest during the rest of the half but were undone by a quicky flurry of goals before the interval. First Rees-Siso chipped against the post on 40 minutes, then he and Woodward (twice) put the Swans 5 up.
There were wholesale changes for both sides in the 2nd half, the match got bitty, we created and missed more chances and finally clinched a 7th goal with 3 minutes to go. By then, the weather had got appreciably better, and it was only the summer midges that spectators had to contend with. Godfrey, Robinson, Popham and Clarke had encouraging 2nd half displays.
A decent workout for our youngsters. Credit to the opposition for not folding.
If the first half performance is anything to go by, we’ll have a competitive U18 side this season. I’m rather hoping though that a number of these players – notably Woodward (who scored 2 cracking goals today), Jones and Cook – get the opportunity to step up to the U21.
Goalscoring: 1-0 (Henia-Kamau 6m), 2-0 (Henia-Kamau 7m), 3-0 (Woodward 43m), 4-0 (Rees-Siso 44m), 5-0 (Woodward 45m), 6-0 (Pescatore 48m), 6-1 (55m), 7-1 (Ranger 87m).
Attendance (yes, I did count them): 32, mostly soaked to the skin unless they were wise enough to bring an umbrella.
I believe our 2nd half attacking midfielder is in fact Alex Godfrey, a Wales U15 squad call-up.