Joe Roberts | It was a performance of a high standard

Swansea City Under-18s manager Joe Roberts was delighted not only with his side’s performance but also with how they maintained their standards throughout, refusing to let complacency creep in despite their commanding position, as they ran out emphatic 9–0 winners over Bristol City in the Professional Development League.

The Swans raced into a four-goal lead in the first half, with a brace from Caio Ifans and further goals from Brogan Popham and Bobo Evans.

Braces from substitutes Billy Clarke and Harvey Gray, along with a goal from Lukas Murphy, not only secured all three points for the Swans but also delivered their first league clean sheet since the 4–0 opening-day victory over Fleetwood Town in August.

Roberts commended the players for maintaining high standards in and out of possession and for translating their hard work in training onto the pitch.

“It was a really positive performance, I think the goals that we scored were a reflection of applying ourselves well, working hard with and without the ball which are things we try and drill into the boys to keep the standards high and I was really impressed that we managed to do that minute one to 90.

“We want to score goals that display how dominant we want to be with the ball and how we move with the ball and rotate.

“We were pleased with how we can score goals of that quality and look back at the training week where we have layered the learning throughout which is then evident on the Saturday.

“There were things that we were keen on making sure that the boys didn’t let up on in terms of keeping their standards high and making sure that the details while we were in possession are still at a level to help us progress up the pitch.

“There were areas where we could tighten up and be cleaner with our work which we can improve on as well.

“It was a really pleasing defensive performance. We spoke about going in with a commanding position at half time but it's really important that the boys have a clean sheet mentality because we want to protect our goal and goalkeeper which we can take pride in.

“Scoring nine goals at any level of football is great but it is an even better bonus if we can keep the ball out of our net.”