Swansea City Under-18s Reading Premier League South
5th September
Swansea City Under-18s difficult start to category one football continued on Saturday afternoon as they fell to a 5-1 defeat at home to top-of-the-table Reading.
A young Swans side - which included three Under-16s players - controlled the majority of the first-half and could have taken the lead after five minutes when Sean Hanbury almost headed home Tom Dyson's cross.
At the other end, Swans keeper Alex Lang kept out two good chances from the Reading attack.
The Swans continued to push and could have been one up on the half-hour mark only for Keiran Evans' curling free-kick to be palmed away by the Reading keeper.
Despite Swansea's chances, the Royals took the lead just before the break as captain Josh Barrett sliced through the U18s defence to slot under Lang.
Reading continued to push and doubled their lead five minutes into the restart, Tyler Frost firing home from a corner.
And the visitors added two more before Swans winger Aaron Lewis grabbed a consolation in the second-half, Reading finding the net once again just before the final whistle.
Despite the scoreline, U18s coach Chris Llewellyn believes the young Swans matched a strong Reading side in the first-half.
"The first 45 minutes was the best performances we have played this season," He said. "The test for us now is to continue that through the 90 minutes in order to be competitive at this level.
"Due to injuries and international call-ups we lined-up a young squad against a strong physical side.
"We looked organised and Reading didn't cause us any big problems in the first period.
"On the ball we looked like we were going to score and had some good chances to take the lead - their keeper made a great save from Keiran Evans free kick.
"Despite us starting the better side the goals have changed the game.
"We need to take the positives from the first-half and make sure we build on that going into our next game.
"Every game this season at this level is going to be tough we need to ensure we take the positives, keep learning and working to build on our performances."
SWANS U18s: Alex Lang, Mael Davies, Matthew Blake, Jack Evans (Jordan Jones, 67), Brandon Cooper (Ben Jones, 75), Dan Jefferies, Aaron Lewis, Tom Dyson (capt), Sean Hanbury (Causso Darame, 66), Trialist, Keiran Evans
SUBS NOT USED: Nathan Shepherd, Ben Morgan
