Jon Beale | The application from the boys throughout was excellent

Swansea City Under-18s coach Jon Beale was delighted with the fight and resilience shown by his young side in tough circumstances despite their 3-2 defeat to Colchester United in the Professional Development League.

The Swans took an early lead through Ifan Harding, but were reduced to ten men just over ten minutes later when Jack May was dismissed for a last-man challenge. Colchester soon equalised through Istan Henry, before Archie Quick was also sent off for a similar offence, leaving Swansea with nine men. Joshua Adesanya then put the visitors ahead ten minutes before half-time.

Beale’s side showed great determination to stay in the game and found an equaliser with 20 minutes to play through Bobby Lewis, but as fatigue began to take its toll, Colchester found a late winner in what proved to be a sucker punch for the hosts.

Although Beale was disappointed with the decisions that went against his side, he could not fault the way his young team applied themselves to stay in the game and admitted that luck has not been on their side in recent matches.

“The players gave everything. The fact we went down to nine men — which I can only describe as really poor officiating — made it very difficult for us. I can understand why the referee made the decision on the second one, but the first one for Jack May doesn’t make sense to me, especially as we were playing really well with 11 players at that point.

“It’s always difficult when you find yourself two players down, but I said to the boys that the way they handled it and the way they dug in throughout the match was superb.

“At half-time I asked them to just try and stay in the game, which they did. It meant we had to change our shape and our set-up, but the boys took on the information really well.

“We managed to get ourselves an equaliser, but unfortunately tired bodies started to take their toll and we couldn’t quite hold out for the point. That said, I’m incredibly proud of how the boys applied themselves." He said. 

“We created some really good chances in the second half and on another day we might have found another equaliser. At the moment luck doesn’t seem to be on our side, but we just have to keep working hard and hopefully the momentum will swing back in our favour."

It was a much younger group that took to the field on Saturday, and Beale believes the experience of the match will be vital for their development, while also emphasising how important the pathway through the age groups is within the club’s academy.

“It was a really young team today - five under-16s, two under-15s and an under-14, which was half of the matchday squad. That’s what we’re about as a club. We operate in a development environment and today will be a great learning experience for those players. There will be plenty for us to take from the analysis ahead of Tuesday.

“It’s a short turnaround with Brentford on Tuesday, which will present a different challenge to Colchester. It will likely be a similarly young squad, but if we apply ourselves the way we did today then we’ll give ourselves every opportunity to win the game.”