Report | Millwall U21s 3 Swansea City U21s 1
Swansea City Under-21s suffered defeat to league leaders Millwall in their Professional Development League meeting in London on Tuesday afternoon.
Tyler Burey had given the hosts the lead from a free-kick, before Seb Drozd drilled home their second going into the break.
The visitors reduced the two-goal deficit with 10 minutes to go through Ben Blythe, but the Lions responded minutes later through Tomas Leahy to extend their unbeaten run on home turf to 12 games.
The Swans had shown three changes from the squad that beat Hull City at the Swansea.com Stadium last week. Joel Cotterill missed out due to illness, whilst Remy Mitchell came in for Lewis Webb between the sticks.
In-form striker Ruben Davies – who scored against the Tigers last time out - was replaced by Josh Thomas in the starting XI.
The Swans - on the back of five wins from six games - started brightly and a flowing move ended with Thomas one-on-one with the keeper, but the Welsh youth international delayed taking a shot on and his effort was eventually blocked.
Millwall responded Nana Boateng’s half-shot, half-cross just failed to find Burey in front of goal, before the Lions saw a penalty appeal waved away by the referee, after the latter went down in the box.
But Millwall would soon find a breakthrough after the hosts were awarded a free-kick 30 yards out. Despite the distance to goal, Burey took on the strike and beat the diving Mitchell for the opener.
Ben Lloyd came closest to finding a response for the visitors, but Ethan Wady was able to foil his low effort as he raced off his line as the forward reached a cross into the box.
Down the other end, Mitchell produced two crucial saves to prevent the Lions extending their lead.
First, he kicked away Drozd’s disguised strike before parrying Frankie Hvid’s free header from the resulting corner.
However, Drozd made no mistake when presented with his next opportunity. Mason Bennett’s driving run down the middle provided space for the English forward to tap home.
The visitors responded to the setback with Azeem Abdulai going close with a curling strike that was well held by the goalkeeper.
After the restart, in-form Davies was introduced in place of Liam Smith to accompany Thomas in attack. The Swans then lost Abdulai after picking up a knock, Kian Jenkins replacing the Scottish youth international.
Cameron Congreve and Thomas saw efforts blocked from close range by Wady as they sought a way back into the game, and the visitors enjoyed long spells of territory and possession.
They managed to make it pay with 10 minutes to go. A Swans corner fell for Blythe in the area, and he drilled the ball into the net.
But any hopes of snatching a point were extinguished when substitute Leahy beat two Swansea defenders and fired the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.
Millwall Under-21s: Ethan Wady, George Walker, Nino Adom-Malaki, Alfie Allen, Frankie Hvid, Chinwike Okoli, Tyler Burey (Tomas Leahy 60'), Lawson, Mason Bennett (Oliver Evans 60'), Nana Boateng, Seb Drozd.
Unused subs: Finley Cotton, Joseph Wright.
Swansea City Under-21s: Remy Mitchell, Harry Jones, Sam Leverett (Kyrell Wilson 78'), Azeem Abdulai (Kian Jenkins 56'), Kai Ludvigsen, Ben Blythe, Liam Smith (Ruben Davies 52'), Tivonge Rushesha, Josh Thomas, Cameron Congreve, Ben Lloyd.
Unused subs: Ewan Griffiths.