Billy Clarke | Brace and three points perfect start to the season

Swansea City Under-18s forward Billy Clarke believes the 4-0 victory against Fleetwood Town in the opening game of the Professional Development League was the “perfect start to the season”.

The forward scored a brace for the age-grade side in a tightly contested first half. The Swans stepped up their performance after the break and, although Fleetwood were reduced to 10 men, Clarke believes his side were in full control and would have gone on to win regardless of the sending-off.

“It’s a good start from the boys, Its great to get on the scoresheet twice and thankfully we got all three points which was the perfect start," said Clarke.

“I managed to create some space for myself and tried to try and get a shot across the goalkeeper which thankfully went in off the post. For the second I saw a gap between the keepers legs and managed it to place it through them.

“We found it difficult during the first half but I think really turned it up during the second half, the red card did help us a little bit but we still in the lead before that and I think we still would have gone on to win with the way we were playing.”

The Swans will now travel to Barnsley on Friday night, and Clarke believes the team can go into the game with confidence, but is aware of how tough it might be after last season’s 1-0 victory in South Yorkshire.

“We can take a lot of positives into the match with Barnsley on Friday, it was a tough game when we went there last season but we came away with the victory and we can go into the game full of confidence.”