Report | Swansea City U18s 0 Southampton U18s 2
Swansea City Under-18s exited the FA Youth Cup in the third round following defeat to Southampton at the Joma High Performance Centre.
The goals came in the second half, with the Saints opening the scoring from a set-piece through Abdulhalim Okonola-Matthews, after Swansea’s Caio Ifans was shown a straight red card.
The visitors went on to seal the victory in stoppage time from another set-piece, which ended in an own goal from Brogan Popham.
Thomas Woodward had returned to the starting line-up after dislocating his knee in November, whilst Yori Griffith made a comeback from a long spell on the sidelines from the bench for the hosts.
The opening 10 minutes proved to be cagey as the two teams eased themselves into proceedings.
Woodward created the first opening when his inviting low ball evaded all white shirts in the box, before Callum Deacon blocked a Adetokundo Oyekunle strike down the other end.
A period of pressure from the Saints followed, the visitors winning back-to-back corners, but they were comfortably dealt with by Popham and Morgan Bates respectively.
Ifans and Deacon then linked up nicely down the left for Swansea, and managed to work the ball to Bates, but Jayden Moore was on hand to clear before the forward could get a shot away.
Southampton were enjoying spells in the Swans half, and fashioned two chances through Jay Robinson, only for Iestyn Jones to deal with the danger well on both occasions.
The Saints came close again after a quick counter, this time Billy Clarke was on hand to deny Thierry Rohart-Brown's volley.
But Swansea ended the half well.
Woodward strode through the middle of the pitch and picked out Josh Pescatore, whose cross was headed high by Ifans.
The ball fell for Pescatore again, but his effort was deflected wide.
The hosts also started the second half strongly. A well-taken strike from Bates was blocked at the last second by Max Fry.
But the Swans were dealt a blow on the hour mark when Ifans was shown a straight red card, and the resulting free-kick led to the opening goal for the opposition.
Aston Daley whipped a deliver in forcing a fine save from Sam Seager, but the rebound was guided into the back of the net by Okonola-Matthews at the near post.
Swansea sought a response and Pescatore showed his pace down the left flank before cutting inside. His half-cross, half-shot looked set to find the bottom corner, but it flashed just across the face of goal.
But Southampton sealed a place in the fourth round in stoppage time, with Popham’s effort to intervene from a corner kick leaving Seager in the Swans goal with no chance.
Swansea City Under-18s: Sam Seager, Billy Clarke (Ben Phillips 81), Callum Deacon (Ramon Rees-Siso 81), Harlan Perry (Milo Robinson 87), Brogan Popham, Iestyn Jones, Josh Pescatore (Aidan Higgins 81), Jacob Cook, Morgan Bates, Thomas Woodward (Yori Griffith 70), Caio Ifans.
Substitutes: Thomas Wright, Kiel Higginson.