4-0 sounds like a thoroughly convincing victory, but our U18s didn’t have things all their own way this morning at Landore. Opponents Fleetwood gave as good as they got during a competitive 1st half and only succumbed only through a flurry of 2nd half goals and a dismissal, which took the wind out of their sails.
There was a first league start for goalkeeper Jakub Nowak. Harlan Perry, who’d played for our U21s last night, captained today’s team.
Line-up: Jakub Nowak; Kaven Bionarczyk, Carter Heywood (s – Wahab Ojetero 73m), Brogan Popham, Caio Ifans; Harlan Perry (captain) (s – Milo Robinson 67m), Bobo Evans, Alfie Jones; Billy Clarke, Harvey Gray (s – Bobby Lewis 73m), Callum Jones (s – Elis Thomas 78m).
Unused sub: Tom Wright (g/k)
Fleetwood snatched a 3-1 win here in April with a disciplined display. They are a combative group, midfielder English picking up an early booking that seemed to dent his effectiveness for the remainder of the game – although he and Harlan Perry had something of a private battle throughout. Centre forward Animasaun was a tough customer to handle, held the ball up well, had a decent touch and never gave our defenders a moment’s relief. What few chances there were in the first half came Swansea’s way: a free kick from Perry that keeper Ascroft pushed around the post, a couple of speculative shots from distance by left winger Callum Jones. The longer the half progressed, we found success by releasing Jones and Kaven Bionarczyk down each flank. Overall, though, the play wasn’t free flowing and we were often closed down and physically outfought. Right on half-time, Nowak snuffed out a rare break that Fleetwood mounted when gaining possession from our own free kick.
Luca Taylor had Fleetwood’s first real chance minutes after the interval when he battled for possession at close range, but Nowak again came to the rescue.
Our first genuinely fluent move created our opening goal when Lewis, Gray and the 2 Joneses combined neatly to give Gray an opportunity to convert from short range.
Fleetwood’s Taylor and the Swans’ Bobo Evans both had snapshots off target before the game turned on a frenetic 4 minute spell which saw an unusual (if correct) refereeing decision, a somewhat harsh dismissal for the visitors and the Swans suddenly going 3 goals to the good.
On 64 minutes, Nowak was penalised for holding onto the ball for too long. Swansea escaped punishment when Fleetwood wasted the awarded corner. Central defender Bamba, who’d been booked for dissent in the first half, impeded the breaking Callum Jones from the clearance and the referee had no hesitation in sending him off.
2 minutes later, left back Dunne cleanly headed a Swans corner past his own goalkeeper. Within a minute Billy Clarke tigerishly won possession on the edge of the Fleetwood area, worked his way toward goal and found the corner of the net to put the Swans an improbable 3-0 up. Fleetwood looked crestfallen, made a series of substitutions to try to get something back from the game, but conceded a further goal 4 minutes from time when Clarke played a classy one-two with U16s substitute Bobby Lewis, going through to expertly notch his 2nd of the game with another shot to the corner of the net. Lewis himself went close to getting a maiden goal in the closing stages.
In fairness, we played better and lost in April – but our youngsters will have enjoyed today’s win. Fleetwood took away nothing for today’s efforts, although in truth they created very little during the game.
Bobo Evans delivered possibly the best performance I’ve seen from him at this level – clever and tenacious throughout, with positive output. Brogan Popham was calm and decisive at the back, Caio Ifans was always a waspish attacking option and substitute Milo Robinson added intelligent play and passing just when it was required. Billy Clarke might even have got a hat-trick for his purposeful attacking.
No coaches named in the teamsheet – Joe Roberts coached our U18s, Mason McClelland having left after a brief tenure with us. I believe former Cheltenham midfielder Mark Yates was the Fleetwood coach.
The teamsheet that the academy has apparently adopted this season takes the player names from a website that lists players with their full names – with the result that some players with lengthy forenames or surnames or lots of middle names end up having their identities truncated. Our 12 is better known as Wahab Ojetero, Fleetwood players 6 and 9 are Mathis Bamba and David Animasaun respectively. Animasaun was a real box of tricks – Carter Heywood will have learned a lot from having to deal with him today.
Goalscoring: Harvey Gray 1-0 (50m); Dunne own goal 2-0 (67m); Clarke 3-0 (68m); Clarke 4-0 (86m).
Why not have a browse of the Swansea City Under 18 v Fleetwood Town Under 18 Professional Development League match image gallery.
Feature Image Credit: Majestic Media