Morgan Bates full of confidence after QPR hat-trick

Swansea City Under-21s' striker Morgan Bates is full of confidence after netting his first hat-trick of the season to help the age-grade side secure a 3-1 victory over their Queens Park Rangers. 

The 19-year-old opened the scoring on Monday night by finishing from Yori Griffith's pass before netting from two set-pieces in the final 10 minutes of the fixture.

It marked Bates' third hat-trick in Swans colours since joining in September 2023 from Briton Ferry Llansawel, with the first two coming against Colchester United and Birmingham City last season.

Bates now has 18 goals to his name in all competitions, and is eager to surpass his tally of 22 last campaign with nine games left.

"The boys have been great over the last week, and the boys really dug deep to get the win in the second half," said Bates.

"I'm so happy to have got a hat-trick as well, my first this season. It always adds that extra bit of confidence.

"I'm on 18 goals so far this season now, and I got 22 in total last year so it's given me more motivation to better myself from last season.

"We've had a lot of the younger boys play with us over the last few weeks, and they've been brilliant especially when they've also got to play again on weekends for the under-18s.

"And we've got a busy schedule coming up with four games in hand, and I think we're in a good place. We just want to keep building and win as many games as possible."