Report | Swansea City U18s 5 Ipswich Town U18s 3

Swansea City Under-18s returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion as a hat-trick from Iwan Morgan and goals from Thomas Searle and Dan Watts sealed victory in an eight-goal thriller against Ipswich Town at Landore.

Morgan netted his 22nd and 23rd goal of the season respectively after coverting from the spot and drilling home from close-range with half-hour played.

But the visitors pulled one back just moments later as Trialist B swept down the left to find the net to halve the deficit, and the Trialist would go on to complete his hat-trick after the break with two goals in 10 minutes.

However, the Swans responded with three goals in the final 25 minutes to claim the points, with Morgan getting the first of them to complete his hat-trick to level the scores.

A maiden goal from Searle for the under-18s put the Swans back in charge, before Watts finished off the afternoon with a lovely strike from distance.

The young Swans had entered the game on the back of defeat to Peterborough last time out, which ended their seven-game unbeaten run.

There had been just the one change to the starting line-up as Ewan Griffiths came in for Evan Watts between the sticks, while Searle was named among the substitutes as he was handed another opportunity to step up from the under-16s.

From the off an entertaining contest looked to be in prospect, and it was the hosts who came closest in the opening stages.

Jada Mawongo’s slide-rule pass found Watts, who in turn teed up Morgan just six yards out, but Ipswich keeper Woody Williamson made a superb block to deny the striker and his effort from the rebound.

The young Swans were enjoying sustained pressure, with Morgan beating off a crowd of defenders down the left flank at the end of a flowing move that resulted in a foul in the box and a Swansea penalty.

Morgan made no mistake from the spot to net his 22nd goal of the season.

Ipswich sought a response and Arthur Parker made a key block to keep out a shot from a trialist before Mawongo headed Ashton Boswell’s shot over his own bar.

The Swans doubled their lead just before the half-hour mark as a mazy run from Zane Myers picked out Morgan, whose strike beat the despairing dive of Williamson. 

However, the two-goal lead was halved just moments after the restart as the visitors swept forward and slotted home through Trialist B.  

Ipswich pressed again; Seth O'Neill's curling strike flashed just wide before Williamson produced yet another fine save down the other end to deny Geoff Bony from close range.

And the visitors were rewarded their efforts following a period of pressure. O'Neill cut inside from the right to find unmarked Trialist B, who headed past Griffiths.

But O'Neill would soon see red for a two-footed tackle on Richard Faakye, leaving the visitors down to 10 men.

However, the numerical disadvantage did not stop Trialist B completing his hat-trick after a one-two allowed him to break forward and slot into the net from outside the area.

Swansea hit back, Morgan rounding off a hat-trick of his own as he tapped in the rebound after Williamson had parried Yori Griffith’s shot.

Minutes later and Swansea were back in front through Searle, who cut inside onto his right foot to curl the ball into the far corner of the net.

And there was an even better strike to come as Watts’ dribbled his way past a number of defenders before firing a low show into the net from distance.

Swansea City Under-18s: Ewan Griffiths, Arthur Parker, Richard Faakye, Jada Mawongo, Dan Watts (Charlie Veevers 83'), Sam Parker (Yori Griffith 45'), Thomas Woodward, Geoff Bony (Geoff Bony 81'), Iwan Morgan, Zane Myers (Thomas Searle 62').

Unused subs: Kit Margetson.

Ipswich Town Under-18s: Woody Williamson, Seth O’Neill, Ben Haddock, Henry Curtis, Jesse Ayoola, Paul Moodie, Trialist, Emmanuel Okunono, Trialist, Tom Taylor (Alex Graham 75'), Ashton Boswell (Nick Knansa-Duamena 75').