Swansea City Under-18s Arsenal

Swansea City Under-18s kicked-off 2016 with a 5-2 defeat in Premier League South away at Arsenal at their training centre on Saturday afternoon.

The scholars could not find the back of the net with early chances before Arsenal capitalised to put themselves two goals up at half-time.

The home side continued their dominance after the restart and took a five goal lead before the young Swans rallied in the final 20 minutes to pull two goals back through midfielders Keiran Evans and Jordan Jones.

Despite the defeat Under-18s coach Chris Llewellyn praised the players character that saw the scholars score late on.

"It was one of our toughest games this season," he said. "Despite a hard loss against one of the best sides in the league I am pleased our players showed good character to get two goals back.

"There is still lots to take away from today's game that we can learn from and take forward this season.

"Our ambition and character to push on and attack saw us score two good goals to earn some reward, but we were second best in what was a very tough game.

"The players know they will need to raise their game in the next few weeks to earn wins like we did before Christmas.

"We need to stand up and be counted as we have more tough games coming up against some of the best opposition the league has to offer."

SWANS U18s: Lewis Thomas (capt), Sean Hanbury, Connor Quigley, Brandon Cooper, Aaron Lewis, Tom Dyson (Jordan Jones, 26), Jack Evans, Marco Dulca (Dan Jefferies, 79) Liam Cullen, Liam Edwards, Brandon Griffiths (Keiran Evans, 57)

SUBS NOT USED: Ross Treacy (GK)