Preview | Wigan Athletic Under-23s vs Swansea City Under-23s

Swansea City Under-23s will look to finish their season on a high when they travel to the DW Stadium to face Wigan Athletic on Thursday (1pm).

The Swans look to continue a strong end to the campaign, with the chance to extend their current unbeaten run to five games.

In their last outing, the Swans ran out dominant 4-2 winners over Colchester United, with Cameron Evans, Tarrelle Whittaker, Joe Thomas and Joel Cotterill all getting themselves on the scoresheet.

Swansea have been strong at home all year, losing just one home fixture in 2022, but have struggled on the road, with just one away win all season.

Wigan Athletic Under-23s currently sit fourth in the north group of the Professional Development League.

Despite the strong league position of the Latics, they are looking to end a run of three games without a win, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Hull City Under-23s in their last game.

Pre-match views

Swansea City Under-23s coach Kris O’Leary: “As always, it’s going to be difficult because we play again on Thursday, we’ve got a lot of travelling to do to get to the game and some of the boys who have stepped up from the under-18s won’t be used to that.

“We spoke back in January or February, saying that our under-23s that had been with us the whole season were up to speed and that busy spell we had in that period was the closest they would have got to first team football, and this is going to be the same.

“Obviously with a couple of new additions with the youngsters that have stepped up, it’s going to be the first time that a lot of them get to experience that.

“It will be interesting, it will be tough but we will go there and enjoy it, I said to the players that they must enjoy the way they played on Monday, certainly in the first half, it was very very special for the age group that they are at.

“Regardless of the result, it’s another opportunity at a stadium, the pitch will be nice and it will be big and hopefully we can open the game up a little bit and go and enjoy ourselves.”

Previous meeting

In the last meeting between the two sides, Kris O’Leary earned his first victory as Swansea City Under-23s coach with a 2-0 win.

Ali Al-Hamadi bagged a brace for the Swans with goals either side of half-time to earn three points.

A cross from the right ricocheted kindly for Al-Hamadi and, although needing a second bite at it, he eventually tucked away from close range.

With 20 minutes remaining, Al-Hamadi netted his second of the afternoon as he headed home a cross from a trialist to secure the three points.