Our youthful U21 will be baffled as to how this game managed to slip away from them this afternoon at Landore.
Going into the last few minutes of a stoppage-littered match we were deservedly 3-2 ahead and looking to create some further distance between 2 very competitive sides. Somehow Millwall clawed back not only an unexpected equaliser, but deep into added time managed to clinch a 4-3 victory.
There’s no disgrace in losing to a team that featured a number of familiar names from previous encounters at this age grade. Former Swan Kevin Nugent coached the Lions.
Swans coach Anthony Wright rotated his squad to give fresh opportunities to U18 talent. Of these, Ramon Rees-Siso and Josh Pescatore particularly excelled. Ben Phillips also had an encouraging outing on the right hand side of the back 3. Jack Fanning had a decent return workout before coming off at half-time. Academy scholar Sam Seager was offered an unexpected debut when goalkeeper Kit Margetson pulled up with a leg injury during the first half. Ben Hughes was in the stand, but I don’t expect he’s been recalled from his loan quite yet!
3-5-2 line-up: Kit Margetson (s – Sam Seager 33m); Ben Phillips (s – Glory Nzingo 81m), Iestyn Jones, Jack Fanning (s – Richard Faakye 46m), Josh Pescatore, Tom Woodward, Ben Lloyd (captain), Ramon Rees-Siso, Callum Deacon (s – Seb Dabrowski 74m); Morgan Bates (s – Sammy Henia-Kamau 74m), Kyrell Wilson.
The game got off with an early exchange of goals – Millwall seizing on some sloppy defensive play to get gifted an opener, Kyrell Wilson almost immediately equalised with a neat close range first time finish from a Morgan Bates cross. Matters were reasonably even until Tom Woodward hooked in an uncleared corner to put the Swans up on 14 minutes – another Josh Pescatore assist.
Back came Millwall to pull level on 25 minutes when an unmarked Kendall was able to find the net from the edge of the area from Jack Fanning’s headed clearance.
Kit Margetson went down injured a couple of times before the decision was taken to replace him with debutant Seager. We finished the half on top and with both Wilson and Woodward looking particularly dangerous. Phillips, who got to grips with Millwall’s tricky left winger Heywood, struck up an effective linkup with Josh Pescatore ahead of him and this was a prominent source of Swans attacks, with Wilson, Woodward and Bates lending a lot of support to keep the Millwall defence on its toes.
The Swans finally went ahead once more just after the hour – the architect being Rees-Siso with a lung bursting solo run from inside his own half. He breached the visitors’ area with Millwall defenders in hot pursuit – and determinedly managed to cut back a low cross for Kyrell Wilson to scuff into the net for a wonderfully well made goal.
We made and missed numerous chances in the immediate aftermath – Bates, Faakye, Pescatore and Woodward all going close.
As time slipped away, Millwall – who’d been reduced to intermittent breakaways – made a couple of telling substitutions to get themselves back in contention.
It was still something of a surprise though to see the referee award a penalty for what appeared to be an unavoidable handball in the Swans penalty as the clock ticked down. Leahy converted to get the Lions back to 3-3. 4 minutes later, Abdulazeez made space for himself on the edge of the Swans area to strike an unlikely late winner. There was still time for Nzingo to pass up a final opportunity before the close.
Stirring stuff, despite the late defeat. Ramon Rees-Siso and Josh Pescatore – who ended up at right back but still managed to contribute intelligently in the later stages – are both really looking the part at this level and neither deserved to finish on the losing side today.
Debutant Sam Seager got himself involved early, made a couple of confidence boosting saves and couldn’t do a great deal about the 2 late Millwall goals.
Scoring: Massey 0-1 (3m); Wilson 1-1 (4m); Woodward 2-1 (14m); Kendall 2-2 (25m); Wilson 3-2 (61m); Leahy (penalty) 3-3 (89m); Abdulazeez 3-4 (93m).