A decent crowd at the stadium this evening for a match with our South Wales rivals. The weather had been quite pleasant during the day but, true to form, it not only bucketed down for a period in the 2nd half, there was also a bout of hailstones just after half-time!
Coach Anthony Wright has frequently had to play the cards he’s dealt in terms of team selection at this level and he’s typically done really well at that. Tonight he had a rich selection of players available and to some extent this possibly forced his hand in terms of blending the players to the proposed formation. The starting line-up had no natural left-sided attacker, so Yori Griffith was pushed up alongside centre forward Morgan Bates and right-sided attacker Josh Pescatore. U-18s player Caio Ifans had a welcome outing at left back. Aimar Govea was back in the squad, having recovered from the injuries that blighted his loan spell with Girona B.
We set up as 4-3-3, although it was a fluid formation that had skipper Dan Watts and Harlan Perry at the heart of midfield, with Tom Woodward ahead of them supporting Bates.
Line-up: Joe Collins; Carter Heywood, Iestyn Jones, Blair McKenzie, Caio Ifans (s – Sam Parker 63m); Harlan Perry (s – Aimar Govea 46m), Dan Watts (captain), Tom Woodward; Josh Pescatore, Morgan Bates, Yori Griffith (s – Caleb Demery 70m).
Unused subs: Tom Wright (g/k), Milo Robinson.
Cardiff played mostly the same team that had lost to our U-21s at Leckwith a fortnight ago.
We made most of the running in the first half, although clear opportunities were at a premium. Pescatore and Woodward went close, Woodward also driving forward to strike the outside of the post just before half-time. Cardiff were limited to shots that a combination of Iestyn Jones and Blair McKenzie blocked. The floodlights went out temporarily on 26 minutes but there didn’t seem to be a great deal of time added on to compensate.
It wasn’t clear if he was carrying a knock, but Harlan Perry was replaced at half-time by Govea, which provided natural width on the left but gave Dan Watts a lot more to do in midfield as a consequence. We continued to shade proceedings and chances – Govea, Woodward and Griffith all going close – although some sloppy defending at the other end allowed visiting right back O’Brien a shot from distance. On the hour, Griffith was fouled once more by Twose outside the Cardiff box and Dan Watts struck a fine shot that found the net via the left had post.
Any sense this would provide the platform for further goals was lost when Cardiff got a simple reply 6 minutes later, pickpocketing the ball near the halfway line to send right winger Jake Davies away for a straightforward finish.
We continued to press, made a couple more changes, had a couple of half-chances but rather lost our way in the remainder of the match as Cardiff battened down the hatches for a point. Nonetheless, our unbeaten run at the stadium continues.
For the Swans, Dan Watts, Iestyn Jones and Blair McKenzie excelled. Cardiff left back Jac Thomas gave as good as he got in his contest with Pescatore and Trey George had a lot of room to operate in midfield after half-time.
Why not have a browse of the Swansea City Under 21 v Cardiff City Under 21 Professional Development League match image gallery.
Here are the video highlights from the game:
Feature Image Credit: Majestic Media