Our U21s edged a 2-1 victory this evening in a friendly at Trefelin’s Ynys Park.
It was a competitive game in the usual welcoming atmosphere and in great scenic surroundings at Port Talbot. Newly promoted to the Cymru Premier, Trefelin have adapted some of the immediate infrastructure – there’s now a proper turnstile – and there are plans for a new stand. Good luck to the club this season, they’re an admirable set-up.
The Swans fielded a mixture of existing academy players, some returning loanees who’d not made the cut to go to Austria, along with some new faces. 2 trialists – one a goalkeeper, one a central defender – were given 90 minutes and there were plenty of changes at half-time. New boys Staitham Bowen (Brentford) and Joe Davies (Peterborough) started in central defence and on the left wing respectively.
Line-up: Trialist 1; Tom Searle (s – Billy Clarke 46m), Trialist 2, Staitham Bowen (s – Iestyn Jones 46m), Jack Fanning; Yori Griffith (s – Alfie Jones 46m), Milo Robinson (s – Josh Pescatore 59m), Ben Lloyd (captain) (s – Harlan Perry 46m); Josh Pescatore (s – Kai Rhodes 56m), Kyrell Wilson (s – new signing 46m), Joe Davies.
Unused sub: Joe Collins (g/k)
Colleague academy players Aimar Govea, Josiah Kallicharan, Caleb Demery, Lukas Murphy and Jacob Cook were also in attendance.
The Ynys Park pitch was rather dry and patchy, the play was flat for much of the first half, competitive but not much in the way of openings. Kyrell Wilson wasn’t getting much change up front.
Our centre half trialist was booked for pulling back a breaking Trefelin forward, Trefelin had a couple of off target shots from distance and Ben Lloyd sent over an enticing cross that was not snapped up. Kyrell Wilson, starting initially at centre forward, switched positions with Pescatore and Davies as the half progressed, but we didn’t really achieve much rhythm. We escaped a couple of scares at the back toward the end of the half and Milo Robinson sent a half volley over but the sides went into half-time 0-0.
Coach Anthony Wright adopted a more aggressive formation after the interval, the Swans going to 3-4-3 with Billy Clarke taking up an advanced right-sided wing role and another of our new boys – who played at Llanelli – taking up a left wing role with Joe Davies moving to the centre of attack. The result was an improvement in the tempo of the match and we finally got a shot on target when Alfie Jones broke into the area and saw his first-time strike parried away.
We survived a couple more scrambles at the back and then went behind with a self-inflicted loss of possession in our own area on the hour. By this time, Josh Pescatore had been both substituted and substituted back on within minutes when Milo Robinson pulled up with a back strain.
On 76 minutes Billy Clarke won possession on the right, setting Davies free for a close range shot that was parried to the underside of the bar for Rhodes to convert the rebound. Although Trefelin might have had a case that there was an infringement in the lead-up to the goal, Swansea woke into life and Davies and Rhodes both went close quickly after before a low left wing cross from Davies found Billy Clarke completely unattended to blast in the winner with 5 minutes to go.
Trefelin kept battling but – despite some uncertain defending from the visitors – could not reply.
A competitive game in a great setting. Trefelin have a tough job ahead of them in the Cymru Premier and hopefully can step up to the challenge.
So far as the Swans squad was concerned, it’s likely we’ll see a number of our starting line-up moved out once more before the start of the season. Judging newcomers and trialists in this environment is always difficult, but the overall goalkeeping situation perhaps needs some extra attention. Milo Robinson was busy until his injury and Alfie Jones made a very positive impression after coming into the fray in the second half, as did Kai Rhodes.