U18s beat Villa to move third

Swansea City Under-18s climbed to third in the Premier League South table with a superb 3-2 victory against Aston Villa in snowy conditions at Bodymoor Heath.

The academy side took the lead on 13 minutes as Daniel Williams’ corner found Cameron Evans to head home.

The young Swans, which included under-16 players Jacob Jones, Ryan Bevan and William Rickard in the squad, doubled their advantage on the half hour mark good possession allowed as striker Marc Walsh fire into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Swansea continue to dominate the play and could have added to their tally through Matthew Roberts before the break.

Villa halved the deficit from the penalty spot after an hour with Ben Guy on target to beat Nathan Shepperd.

But the under-18s restored their two goal advantage three minutes later with a fine individual effort from Jack Fox to beat Emmanuel Idem to make it 3-1.

Charlie Farr found the net once again for the home side, but Swansea continued to control the game in the wintery conditions until the final whistle to record their seventh win of the season.

The victory lifts the under-18s to third in the Premier League South table, their highest position this season with West Ham next up at Landore on Saturday, February 3 (11am).

Aston Villa U18s: Emmanuel Idem, Callum Stretch, Ben Guy, Brad Burton, Charlie McConnachie, Callum Rowe (Capt) (Mason Birch, 63), Aaron Pressley, Luke Ige, Jack Birch (Lewis Brunt, 46), Mungo Bridge (Charlie Farr, 68), Michael Tait.

Subs not used: Myles Sohna, Harrison Sohna,

Swans U18s: Nathan Shepperd, Jacob Jones, Ben Cabango (William Rickard, 74), Ryan Bevan, Daniel Williams, Cameron Evans, Craig Davies (Kees de Boer, 74), Matthew Roberts (Shaquille Wynter-Coles), Jack Fox, Tom Price (Capt), Marc Walsh,

Subs not used: Scott Reed.