Report | Swansea City U18s 5 Birmingham City U18s 1

A second-half hat-trick from Thomas Woodwardand, plus goals from Billy Clarke and Harvey Gray, secured a deserved victory for Swansea City Under-18s against Birmingham City at the Joma High Performance Centre.

Tobe Ugorji had opened the scoring in the 10th minute for the Blues, but the Swans completely dominated the second half and eventually ran out comfortable winners.

Woodward drew them level just after the break, before Clarke gave them the lead in the closing stages before Gray soon added a third Swansea goal.

And Woodward then struck twice in quick succession to round off the scoring and complete his second hat-trick of the campaign.

The host had made the better start, winning back-to-back corners, with the second of those seeing a trialist force Birmingham keeper Szymon Terenowicz into a diving save.

At the other end, Thomas Wright made a sharp stop to keep out a Cobi Maddox header, but a quick counter from the Blues would see them find the net as the ball was pulled back for Ugorji to steer the ball beyond Wright and give the visitors the lead.

Wright pushed away a curling strike from Maddox to ensure Birmingham did not double their advantage, before made a big save of his own to prevent Woodward drawing the scores level.

The visitors retained their lead at the break, with good defensive pressure from Kiel Higginson ensuring a Kaiden Robinson effort was easily saved by Wright shortly before the half-time whistle.

The Swans made the better start to the second half, with Yori Griffith looking lively after coming off the bench. He and Caio Ifans linked up well twice in quick succession with one of those occasions ending with Griffith firing over the bar.

But the Swans would capitalise on their positive play when Woodward got the better of the Blues defence to fire home the equaliser.

Griffith's effort from inside the area was denied by the woodwork, while Ramon Rees Siso's strike from distance was held by Terenowicz. 

Then, with 10 minutes remaining, substitute Clarke headed home following a scramble in the box to give the home side the lead their pressure deserved.

Swansea continued to press and Griffith hit the post again before under-16s' striker Gray gave the home side breathing space as he fired the ball into the bottom corner after a slick team move.

The goals kept coming, and Woodward rounded off the scoring and sealed his personal treble with two assured finishes in the space of two minutes.

Swansea City Under-18s: Thomas Wright, Osian Williams, Callum Deacon (captain), Ben Phillips, Kiel Higginson, Milo Robinson, Ramon Rees-Siso, Harlan Perry (Yori Griffith 45), Trialist, Thomas Woodward, Caio Ifans.