Report | Ipswich Town U23s 5 Swansea City U23s 1

17th December
Michael Murphy

A youthful Swansea City Under-23s were beaten by Ipswich Town at Playford Road.

The young Swans conceded five times in the space of 14 minutes in their Professional Development League clash, while Adrian Akande’s first goal at this level proved a mere consolation.

Jon Grey’s side - consisting of four first-year pros and 12 scholars - held their own for the opening half an hour in East Anglia despite losing Kai Ludvigsen to injury earlier on.

However, the momentum firmly swung in Ipswich’s favour towards the end of the half, with a Zak Brown brace sandwiching a neat finish from Fraser Alexander.

Elkan Baggott added a fourth after the break for Kieron Dyer’s side, while a trialist also got in on the act to make it five.

The Swans did pull a goal back through Akande 12 minutes from time, but it did nothing to gloss over a bitterly disappointing afternoon for Grey and the development side.

“It was an unacceptable performance. Overall, I was really disappointed with how we portrayed ourselves in the game,” the under-23s coach said.

“When you go 1-0 down, you must show some resilience. The plan we put together was working for 32 minutes, but it then went out of the window for 15 minutes. It was like we gave up.

“You can’t go into games and not be willing to do the fundamentals and non-negotiables because, whatever level you’re playing at, things will not go well for you.

“We didn’t match anything that they did; they outran us, out-tackled us and outworked us – it was like boys versus men. 

“I can’t defend that; there are no excuses for it. There wasn’t one player who came out of that game with any credit.”

Swansea City U23s: Jamie Searle; Jacob Edwards, Kai Ludvigsen (Scott Butler, 3), Joe Lewis, Cian Williams; Ryan Bevan, Morgan Clarke (Cameron Congreve, 62); Bradley Gibbings, Michael Murphy (Rio Campbell, 68), Adrian Akande; Josh Thomas.

Subs not used: Tyler Evans, Erick Kenko.