Ollie Jefferies | The Boys Gave us Everything We Asked For

Swansea City Under-18s’ assistant coach Ollie Jefferies was delighted with the way a number of young players took responsibility during the 1-1 draw with Watford.

The hosts had trailed at the break to an Andres Aguilar free-kick but they responded  courtesy of Rohan Davies’ finish.

However, neither side could find a winner as the Swans missed out on recording three Professional Development League wins in a row.

Yori Griffith, Jacob Cook and Thomas Woodward all picked up further minutes, after impressing in recent games as they have stepped up from under-16 level.

And with a number of older players unavailable, Jefferies was impressed with how the squad adapted and adjusted.

“We are really happy with the performance today,” he said.

“We asked them at the start of the day to be brave on the ball and to replicate a lot of the work that’s going on in the under-21s and first team.

“We also asked them to lead by example because we’ve had an illness run through the squad this week, so a lot of our boys who regularly feature for us were unavailable.  

“This gave the younger ones an opportunity to play. So, we asked some of the boys to step up and take leadership roles, which I thought they did really well. 

“We spoke about it being a massive collective effort, with the focus on the performance. To be fair, the boys gave us everything we asked of them both in possession and out of possession. 

“I thought the two under-16 boys [Yori Griffith and Jacob Cook] were excellent throughout and were supported incredibly well by the second and first years. 

“We are gutted for the boys that they didn’t get the win. But, for large amounts of the game, you could see our style implemented on the pitch. 

“At half-time, we continued to speak about being brave on the ball and continuing to get Yori and Geoff Bony on the ball behind their midfield line. 

“At times, they were really courageous, from taking the ball from the goalkeeper through the centre-halves to setting up attacks further forward.

“Once we got them on the ball facing forward, then we could attack their back line. I thought the boys implemented what we asked of them."