Swansea City under-18s FA Youth Cup

16th December

A goal in each half from Liam Cullen ensured Swansea City Under-18s progressed to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup following a 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Landore.
The young Swans looked sharp in the opening minutes as striker Cullen found space on the edge of the area before curling his shot over the bar.
Further efforts followed from Brandon Cooper, Keiran Evans and Tom Price but the hosts could not find the breakthrough in the first 25 minutes.
Swansea continued to press as Evans shook off his defenders to cut in from the right before his shot dipped inches over the bar.
A minute later Cullen was denied by the feet of Rory Brown after he had latched onto a through ball, but he wasn't to be denied much longer.
The home side took the lead after 28 minutes when a foul on Liam Edwards in the box allowed Cullen to open the scoring from 12 yards.
Wolves almost hit back just after the half-hour mark as striker Morgan Gibbs-White broke into the box from the right before firing across the face of goal.
Ross Treacy denied the visitors an equalier when a corner turned into a goal mouth scramble before Tayler Perry's shot was saved by the Irishman on the stroke of half-time.

HALF TIME: Swans U18s 1 - 0 Wolves U18s



Swansea could have doubled their lead minutes after the restart as Cullen pounced on a defensive error. He raced through on goal, but his pass to Oliver Cooper was broken down by the defence.
The game became stretched as both sides battled for the next goal with some solid defending at the back denying Wolves an equaliser from a corner.
But it was the Swans who doubled their lead in the 69th minute as a pass from Oliver Cooper found Cullen, and he raced on before firing home his 15th of the season goal with a composed finish.
However, the visitors pulled a goal back three minutes later as a cross from substitute Jordan Allen on the right found winger Bradley Carr in space, and he beat Treacy from six yards.
Wolves continued to hunt for an equaliser in the closing stages as Allen broke on the counter attack only for his effort to be saved by Treacy before the Swans defence cleared.
Five minutes of added time ensured a nervous end at Landore but the young Swans held on to take the win to set-up a fourth round tie against Newcastle United.

SWANS U18s: Ross Treacy, Mael Davies, Matt Blake, Tom Price, Dan Jefferies, Brandon Cooper, Oliver Cooper (Sean Hanbury, 90), Marco Dulca, Liam Cullen (capt), Kiran Evans (Mason Jones-Thomas, 66), Liam Edwards.
UNUSED SUBS: Joe Lewis, Alex Lang, Finley Hazell.

WOLVES U18s: Rory Brown, Brandon Ball, Joel Whittingham (Elliot Watt, 45), Dan McKenna, Dion Sanderson, Cameron John (capt), Bradley Carr, Christian Herc, Morgan Gibbs-White, Tayler Perry (Jordan Allan, 63), Ryan Giles.
UNUSED SUBS: Harry Beasley, Sam Phillips, Joshua Hesson.