Swansea City Under-23s Fulham Premier League 2
17th October
A goal in each half saw Swansea City Under-23s record a 2-0 victory over Fulham at Landore to return to the top of Premier League 2 (Division 2) on Monday.
The young Swans took the lead just after the half-hour mark as midfielder Jay Fulton rifled home a cross from the right flank.
The home side doubled their lead in the second half through Scottish striker Oli McBurnie, with the Swans picking up their fifth league victory of the season.
Swansea City made six changes to the side that beat Feyenoord in the PL International Cup last week.
Stephen Kingsley, Jay Fulton, Alfie Mawson and George Byers all came back into a strengthened starting XI.
Winger Daniel James (Wales U21s) and striker Oli McBurnie (Scotland U21s) also returned from international duty to start.
SWANS U23s: Gregor Zabret, Tyler Reid, Stephen Kingsley, Jay Fulton, Keston Davies (capt), Alfie Mawson (Joe Rodon, 61), Daniel James (Owain Jones, 83), Adnan Maric (Tom Holland, 86), Oli McBurnie, George Byers, Alex Samuel.
SUBS NOT USED: Lewis Thomas, Botti Biabi.
FULHAM U23s: Marek Rodak, Marlon Fossey, Sean Kavanagh, Mattias Kait (Anthony Dolan, ht), Aron Davies (Jayden Harris, 55), Ryheem Sheckleford, Lucas De La Torre, Adetayo Edun, Joshua Walker, Elijah Adebayo, Stephen Humphrys (Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson, 60).
SUBS NOT USED: Jake Soutter.
Fulham had the first real attack of an end-to-end first half as Elijah Adebayo's flick found Joshua Humphries on the left wing, but his cross failed to find midfielder Lucas de la Torre in the box.
At the other end, Daniel James' dangerous cross was saved by Fulham keeper Marek Rodak before Swans stopper Gregor Zabret was called off his line to save at the feet of oncoming striker Joshua Walker.
Minutes later, Alex Samuel drove a dangerous cross from the right flank that took a deflection away from the waiting Oli McBurnie inside the area.
Fulham's attack continued to look for the opening goal as Zabret again saved with his leg to deny Adebayo's shot.
But it was Swansea who broke the deadlock just after the half-hour mark as a cross from the right found Jay Fulton inside the area, and the Scottish midfielder rifled past Rodak into the roof of the net.
McBurnie went closest to doubling the Swans lead minutes before half-time, but his header from George Byers' corner was inches wide of the post.
HALF TIME: Swans U23s 1 - 0 Fulham U23s
The Swans could have doubled their lead five minutes after the restart as great link-up play through the midfield saw Fulton's ball play McBurnie into the box - his shot beat Rodak but went inches wide of the post.
But McBurnie did extend the Swans' lead after 58 minutes as the striker got onto the end of George Byers' low free-kick into the box after a flick-on from Stephen Kingsley.
The Scottish Under-21 international almost doubled his tally a minute later after he broke into the area from the right flank only to see his effort superbly saved by Fulham's keeper.
Fulham almost pulled a goal back after 75 minutes as they launched a rapid counter attack before midfielder Adetayo Ddun's shot came back off the post to keep Zabret's clean sheet in tact.
Swansea continued to push for a third goal as McBurnie and Byers went close before the final whistle confirmed a 2-0 win for the hosts' fifth league win of the PL2 season.
