Report | Swansea City Under-23s 4 Larkhall 1

27th July
Landore

Swansea City Under-23s maintained their 100 per cent pre-season record with a convincing victory over Larkhall in Landore.

Kristian O’Leary’s side led 1-0 at the break and stepped up a gear in the second half against their opponents from Southern League Division One South.

Three of the goals came from trialists, with the Swans including five in their starting XI, with Joel Cotterill netting the fourth.

The visitors were the first to probe and actually had the ball in the net after 10 minutes, only for the offside flag to be raised.

The under-23s reacted well to that, and it took a superb one-handed save from the Larkhall keeper to deny Ben Lloyd after he had charged into the box.

The Swans did take the lead after 35 minutes, with a trialist latching onto a return pass in the box before firing low past the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Just two minutes after the break, the same trialist bagged his second of the night as he turned his marker before the ball was eventually worked to Cotterill, and his cross was tapped home between the keeper’s legs.

O’Leary’s side continued to impose themselves on the game, and their third of the night came just before the hour mark as two trialists neatly combined to make it 3-0.

Larkhall managed to pull one back four minutes later as the under-23s conceded their first goal of pre-season via the penalty spot after a trialist tripped his marker in the box.

But it proved small consolation for Larkhall as the Swans struck again after 72 minutes. Cotterill pinched possession in midfield and exploited a big hole in the visitors’ defence before curling a bending effort past the diving keeper from 20 yards.

The victory adds to previous wins over Trefelin and Barry Town in pre-season, while next up for the Swans is a trip to Southern League Premier South side Weston-super-Mare on Saturday.