U18s draw on opening day at Fulham

Swansea City Under-18s drew 1-1 at Fulham on the opening day of the Premier League South season with Daniel Williams’ volley enough to see the spoils shared at Motspur Park.

In a nervy start to the new campaign, the young Swans found themselves a goal behind inside 10 minutes as Cody Drameh crossed for forward Jean-Pierre Tiehi to fire home.

The game settled and Swansea did well to prevent Fulham from extending their lead before Shaquille Wynter-Coles saw his shot saved by home keeper Luca Ashby-Hammond.

The Swans came close to an equaliser minutes before the break when a chance from a corner was scrambled off the line.

The Swans improved in the second half but Scott Reed was on hand to save shots from Drameh and Tiehi.

Swansea found the equaliser on 65 minutes with a corner only cleared as far as Williams, and the midfielder unleashed a sublime volley past Ashby-Hammond into the net.

The visitors grew in confidence and tried their luck from distance as Mason Jones-Thomas’ effort was thwarted by Fulham’s keeper once again.

The game could have gone either way in the closing minutes but one last save from Reed to deny Harvey Elliot was enough to ensure the Swans claimed a draw.

The under-18s are next in league action at Landore against Tottenham this Saturday, 18 August (11am).

Fulham U18s: Luca Ashby-Hammond, Cody Drameh, Scott Armsworth, Zico Asare, Frank Amekarto, Harvey Elliott, Sonny Hilton, Ben Davis, Fabio Carvalho, Showkat Tahir (Terry Ablade, 58), Jean-Pierre Tiehi.

Subs not used: George Wickens, Connor McAvoy, Eliad Frei, Riley Warland.

Swans U18s: Scott Reed, Ryan Bevan, Cameron Evans, Ben Erickson, Jacob Jones, Shaquille Wynter-Coles, Tivonge Rushesha, Daniel Williams, Arnor Gudjohnsen; Mason Jones-Thomas, Ali Al-Hamadi.

Subs not used: Owen Evans, Nathan Shepperd, Luke McKendry, Luke Motruk, Josh Thomas.