Report | Barnsley U21s 4 Swansea City U21s 2
Swansea City Under-21s fell to defeat against Barnsley in their opening game of the season despite a strong fightback at the Tykes’ Oakwell Training Ground.
The first half saw five goals, with a hat-trick from Aiden Marsh giving the hosts a three-goal lead inside 22 minutes.
However, the Swans pulled two goals back before the break as Iwan Morgan and Liam Smith found the net, only for Fabio Jalo to seal the three points for Barnsley with a second-half penalty.
Swansea’s first Professional Development League outing of the season saw a debut for Maliq Cadogan following his summer arrival, while Cameron Congreve started on his return from injury.
The home side started with purpose, Marsh forcing a sharp save from Evan Watts before Filip Lissah cleared the loose ball as it bobbled back towards the net.
Swansea responded, a quick-thinking free-kick from Morgan found Congreve driving forward, but his cross found no men in white on hand to finish.
It could have been 1-0 to the Swans moments later, with only a headed clearance from Jack Shepherd preventing Cadogan from marking his debut with a goal as his effort bounced down of the bar.
Instead it was the home side broke the deadlock with just over 10 minutes on the clock. Jalo's deflected shot from the left fell kindly to allow Marsh to head in the opener.
The striker Marsh wasted little time adding his second, doubling his side’s advantage moments later by tapping in from close-range following a Barnsley corner.
And it was soon 3-0 when Marsh completed a quickfire hat-trick with a curling effort from just outside the box.
It left Swansea with a mountain to climb, but they responded by pulling one back as Morgan drilled into the net from close range after good build-up.
The visitors seized the initiative and enjoyed a prolonged spell of pressure, which yielded their second goal.
Smith turned infield before launching a superb strike beyond the despairing dive of Rogan Ravenhill in the Tykes goal.
Swansea trailed at the interval, but continued to be on the front foot early in the second half as they asked questions of the Barnsley defence.
Cadogan’s mazy run down the left sent Mitchell Bates racing in on goal, but the youngster was denied the chance to get a shot away by good covering defending.
The chances kept coming as the Swans chased an equaliser. A lovely one-two between Cadogan and Kian Jenkins worked Morgan in on goal, with his chipped finish agonisingly rattling the crossbar.
And Barnsley would make the most of those let-offs by putting the game to bed with their fourth goal of the contest.
Jalo made no mistake from the spot after a foul in the area had given him the opportunity from 12 yards.
Swansea City Under-21s: Evan Watts, Sam Parker, Kian Jenkins, Joel Cotterill (Captain) (Jacob Cook 84), Filip Lissah, Richard Faakye (Kai Ludvigsen 45), Liam Smith, Mitchell Bates, Iwan Morgan, Cameron Congreve (Josh Carey 60), Maliq Cadogan.
Unused Substitutes: Remy Mitchell, Ben Blythe.
Barnsley Under-21s: Rogan Ravenhill, Josh McKay, Mylan Benjamin, Jack Shepherd, Conor McCarthy, Nathan James, Hayden Pickard, Harrison Nejman (Captain), Fabio Jalo, Trialist A, Aiden Marsh (Josiah Dyer 68).
Unused Substitutes: Trent Carter-Rogers, Trialist B.