No goals, but plenty to be pleased with for our young U21s squad this evening at Llanelli’s Stebonheath Park. No teamsheet and no team announcements. A reported crowd of 631 were present.
Although the substitutions were arranged in 2 bursts, we essentially fielded 2 sides during the course of the night. On show for the Swans were 2 fresh and tall trialist goalkeepers, neither of whom were seriously tested. Some of the Swans personnel – notably Dan Watts and Mitchell Bates – were likely to have featured earlier in the day in a behind closed doors friendly against Yeovil, which we reportedly won 5-0.
The following line-up will necessarily look rather busy, but in summary: we started 4-3-3, went to 3-4-3 immediately after half-time, then reverted to 4-3-3 following the mass substitutions just after the hour.
Player roll call: Trialist A (s – Trialist B 46m); Zac Jeanes (s – Aimar Govea 46m), Ben Phillips (s – Brogan Popham 62m), Blair McKenzie (s – Carter Heywood 62m), Callum Deacon (s – Caio Ifans 62m); Harlan Perry (s – Bobo Evans 62m), Jacob Cook (s – Alfie Jones 62m), Dan Watts (captain) (s – Mitchell Bates 46m); Josh Pescatore (s – Billy Clarke 62m), Morgan Bates (s – Thomas Searle 62m), Ramon Rees-Siso (s – Kai Rhodes 62m).
Llanelli set up very conservatively – 2 banks of 5 and 4 players, with a single striker acting in a thankless outlet role. We predictably had the vast majority of possession and had to patiently work out how to break through the massed ranks. Our passing was slick and quick, but there was very little meaningful penetration until Ramon Rees-Siso saw a shot parried around the post on 15 minutes. We remained limited to efforts from distance or the occasional half-chance near to goal for much of the remainder of the half. Llanelli seemed content to sit back, soak up pressure and look to exploit the occasional breakaway. Morgan Bates was blocked on half-time when Callum Deacon found him in rare space with an incisive pass. Our middle trio of Harlan Perry, Jacob Cook and Dan Watts enjoyed a lot of neat and constructive possession – Perry in particular picking out searching passes – but we simply couldn’t break the home side down. 0-0 half-time.
We switched to 3-4-3 for the 2nd half, sacrificing Zac Jeanes to bring Aimar Govea initially into midfield. Govea soon got behind the Llanelli rearguard to send in a tempting cross that was just in front of Morgan Bates. Llanelli made their own changes and became a little more adventurous, but the contest was still largely one where the young Swans kept knocking on the door without really finding the final delivery to get clear shots away. On the hour, Perry scooped a drive over after Govea and Rees-Siso had opened up the right hand side of the Reds’ defence.
The multiple substitutions introduced a number of our 1st year scholars to the game. Kai Rhodes was very lively on the left wing and ghosted his way to the byline on a number of occasions. Billy Clarke – who was introduced in a very advanced role alongside Rhodes and Govea – was presented our clearest chance with under 10 minutes to go, but Reds keeper Mike Lewis tipped his first time snapshot over the bar. Up the other end, we escaped what would have been a harsh penalty award for a risky challenge a little earlier. It’s fair to say the referee was generous to both sides on the evening. There were a couple more final sorties from the Swans, but the contest ended honours even.
No mean feat for our youngsters to play so confidently and assertively against a newly promoted Cymru Premier team. Another helpful learning workout.