Preview | Swansea City U18s v Cardiff City U18s
Swansea City Under-18s return to Professional Development League action on Saturday morning as they go head-to-head with Cardiff City in the south Wales Derby at Landore (11am kick-off).
The fixture is free for supporters to end, and the gates will be open at Landore Training Ground from 10am.
The Bluebirds have tasted victory just once so far in 2023, via a 4-0 clash over Watford, and have lost their last four competitive games.
The young Swans will be looking to bounce back after a 3-0 defeat to Millwall last time out in London, which saw striker Iwan Morgan receive a red card, meaning he is set the miss the derby clash.
The reverse fixture saw the Bluebirds come out on top with two second-half goals, one from the spot and the other in added time at the Cardiff International Sports Stadium back in September.
Pre match views:
Coach Darren Davies: "We had a bit of a disruptive week in the run up to Millwall, due to illness and players away on international duty.
"The medics and the strength and conditioning have been fantastic in guiding us and ensuring players are fit, so we'll have a better week of work before Cardiff.
"There's always excitement when we play Cardiff, but we'll go into it just like any other game and implement our principles and style of play."
Previous meeting - November 6, 2021
Swansea City 0 Cardiff City 2
Swansea City Under-18s were beaten by Cardiff City Under-18s in their last Professional Development League meeting in Landore.
The game saw Darren Davies take charge of the under-18s for the first time since becoming head coach, but he couldn’t get the dream start.
Swansea dominated possession in the early stages of the game and continually pressed to win the ball back high up the pitch.
But the Swans struggled to create clear cut chances and find that final ball to break the Cardiff defence, with Cameron Congreve and Ben Lloyd both trying their luck from distance several times.
But it was Cardiff who broke the deadlock through Joel Colwill. His long-range effort was just too powerful for Ben Hughes, who got a hand to the ball but couldn't prevent it from crossing the line.
Swansea came out seeking an equaliser in the second half, with Congreve crossing for David Roberts, but he couldn’t get a strong enough connection with his header.
And Cardiff would double their lead after 75 minutes after Caleb Hughes' free-kick clipped the underside of the crossbar before hitting the back of the net.
Swansea City Under-18s: Ben Hughes, Filip Lassah, Kian Jenkins (Zane Myers 70), Joshua Edwards (captain) (Jack Cooper 51), Harry Jones, Seb Debrowski, Rohan Davies, Ben Lloyd, Geoff Bony (Iwan Morgan 60), Charlie Veevers, Aaron Hillier.
Unused Subs: Tyler Evans.