Another testing encounter for our young U21s, this time Merthyr Town provided too strong an opposition and took a 4-1 victory. On the balance of play this felt a slightly harsh result, although Merthyr took their chances well and were deserving winners on the night.
We gave a lot of the available squad game time during the evening: Evan Anderson; Zac Jeanes (s – Jack May 72m), Iestyn Jones (s – Thomas Searle 72m), Ben Phillips (s – Carter Heywood 55m), Caio Ifans (s – Aimar Govea 46m) (s – Luke Enright 84m); Jacob Cook (s – Milo Robinson 72m), Dan Watts (s – Yori Griffith 67m), Thomas Woodward (s – Harlan Perry 67m); Josh Pescatore (s – Callum Deacon 72m), Luke Enright (s – Morgan Bates 46m), Ramon Rees-Siso (s – Caleb Demery 61m).
We started in a familiar 4-3-3 formation, with Josh Pescatore and Ramon Rees-Siso supporting trialist centre forward Luke Enright from the flanks. Evan Anderson had another opportunity in goal while a further trialist (believed to be Jack May, but not entirely confident of this name) was given an outing in central defence during the 2nd half.
Merthyr, newly promoted to National League North, featured ex-Swans Jack Evans, Keiran Evans and Lee Lucas. Last season’s prolific goalscorer Ricardo Rees was introduced after half-time and made his mark.
The 1st half was a well matched affair. Merthyr’s winger Sambu and our left back Caio Ifans were enjoying a lively early battle. Right out of nowhere, Merthyr’s Churchley struck a fine shot outside the area to put the home side up on 13 minutes. The Swans replied with a few threatening sorties – Jeanes sent over an enticing cross that eluded our attackers; Cook instinctively fired a goalkeeper’s clearance wide; Enright was blocked when Rees-Siso and Woodward cleverly opened up the Merthyr defence; Rees-Siso had a further shot deflected wide. Even if we weren’t fully fluent, we were enjoying a reasonable amount of the play. Enright had a goal disallowed after Rees-Siso was adjudged to be offside when pick pocketing the Merthyr keeper.
We fell to a sucker punch 2nd goal on 37 minutes when a straightforward and poorly defended free kick was met by a Smerdon header home from point blank range. Merthyr finished the half on top and with their tails up.
Coach Anthony Wright rung initial changes on half-time by bringing Morgan Bates and Aimar Govea into action, Josh Pescatore withdrawing to full back and Ramon Rees-Siso switching wings. Further substitutions from both sides probably moved the dial in Merthyr’s favour – Keiran Evans scoring almost immediately after coming on, Ricardo Rees finally breaking clear with a routine 4th in added time to seal a 4-1 win for the Martyrs.
In between we had a Morgan Bates penalty saved and Caleb Demery got on the scoresheet, collecting a smart pass at the far post after Bates had burst onto a through ball over the home defence.
The many 2nd half substitutions had a mixed effect; at one point we went 3-4-3, then reverted to 4-3-3. We didn’t create too much in the way of clearcut chances and Merthyr were clinical in taking advantage of loose play to break and score when it mattered.
Overall, another instructive learning exercise: Merthyr are a well-disciplined outfit with clever finishers and it was good to see Jack Evans, Keiran Evans and Lee Lucas in action again. Aneurin Livermore was particularly effective in midfield. For the Swans, Ramon Rees-Siso, Iestyn Jones and Dan Watts stood out. Anthony Wright will no doubt have learned more about his available squad and assessed what worked and what didn’t, both in terms of formations and personnel. Roll on Carmarthen, in the Nathaniel MG Cup on Saturday.
Goals: Churchley (1-0 13m); Smerdon (2-0 37m); K Evans (3-0 64m); Demery (3-1 83m); Rees (4-1 90+2m).