Swansea City Under-21s | Season in Review
With the 2023-24 Professional Development League season having reached its conclusion, we take a look back over Swansea City Under-21s’ campaign.
The Swans finished in second place in the PDL South, recording 16 wins and scoring 72 goals, the second-highest tally in the league behind champions Millwall.
Their runners-up finish secured a play-off semi-final with PDL North champions Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in May, but the young Swans were defeated 4-2 by the hosts, who went on to become national champions by seeing off Birmingham City in the final.
Forward Kyrell Wilson topped the goalscoring charts with 18 goals in all competitions, with DC United Kristian Fletcher loanee closely behind with 16 in 13 games.
The development side also reached the Nathaniel MG Cup final in January in their debut appearance in the senior competition, but fell to defeat to nine-time winners The New Saints.
SEASON ROUND-UP
Although it was a slow start to the season for the development side, with consecutive away losses against Sheffield United and Barnsley, the Swans won their next two home games at the Swansea.com stadium against Crewe Alexandra and Hull City respectively.
The Swans recorded their first away win at the CBS Arena in September after debutant Fletcher headed home in stoppage time to snatch three points on the road.
Only one win followed in the next four league outings. The Swans were defeated away from home against play-off chasing AFC Bournemouth and Queens Park Rangers respectively, while an eight-goal thriller against Watford in between which saw Wilson claim his first hat-trick in Swans colours.
The next win came against Charlton Athletic, which saw a handful of first-team players drop in to pick up vital minutes. Ruben Davies had a brace with Liam Smith, Kyle Naughton and Congreve among the goals in the 5-0 victory.
Swansea then went to on to claim three wins on the bounce, scoring 11 goals. They first won 3-0 against Bristol City at the Robins High Performance Centre thanks to a Congreve brace and a Wilson strike. Back-to-back home fixtures followed and the strike partnership of Fletcher and Wilson continued to get among the goals.
Eighteen-year-old Fletcher bagged the second hat-trick of his loan spell, whilst Wilson also added another goal to his tally to claim a dominant 4-0 win. Four days later, Fletcher had his second hat-trick in as many games with Wilson also playing a vital role as the Swans won 4-1 against Colchester United at the beginning of December.
Approaching the Christmas break, Swansea fell to defeat in the south Wales derby at Leckwith before being held to a goalless draw by a strong QPR outfit in their last game of 2023.
They kicked off 2024 with a 3-0 victory over Millwall, coached by former Swan Kevin Nugent, at Landore Training Ground thanks to goals from Charlie Veevers, Wilson and Congreve.
A long trip to Essex followed just days later to face Colchester United. The U's Kaan Bennett had the hosts in the lead before Ben Lloyd's equaliser, on the midfielder's first start following injury, set the Swans up nicely going into the second period, and Maliq Cadogan would convert from a set-piece in the final five minutes to complete the comeback.
The Swans experienced a dip in form going into February, losing four-consecutive away games against Charlton Athletic, Ipswich Town, Millwall and Wigan Athletic.
But Swansea continued their year-long unbeaten run in the league on home turf when Cadogan came to the rescue again to score two late goals against play-off chasing Bournemouth under the lights at Landore and secure a 4-3 win.
Approaching the end of the campaign, Swansea won six of their last seven against Watford, Fleetwood Town, Peterborough United, Bristol City, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City, scoring 18 goals in total.
The sole loss, which ended the Swans impressive unbeaten home run in the league, came against Burnley, as Tom Tweedy - who hails from Penybont - netted a last-minute winner to claim the three points for the Clarets.
The development side went into the last game of the season against Birmingham City knowing they needed a win to secure a play-off spot, and they got it thanks to Joe Thomas' strike from a corner in first-half stoppage time to send them through to that semi-final against the Blades.
CUP ACTION
Away from league action, the under-21s enjoyed good runs in all cup competitions, most notably in the Nathaniel MG Cup.
Swansea booked their place in the Welsh domestic showpiece by beating JD Cymru Premier side Cardiff Met on penalties in the semi-final.
The development side - who competed in the competition for the first time after being given a wildcard entry by the FAW - eased through the previous rounds with wins over Carmarthen Town, Caerau Ely, Cardiff City and Briton Ferry Llansawel respectively.
You can view the Swans' journey to the Nathaniel MG Cup final in full HERE.
In the Premier League Cup, meanwhile, Anthony Wright's side cruised through to the quarter-finals after finishing second in their group behind Premier League outfit Aston Villa.
The Swans had kicked off their campaign with a 4-0 victory over Hull City thanks to goals from Fletcher, Davies and Liam Smith. The reverse fixture at the MKM Stadium in December was another high-scoring affair, the Swans coming out 6-1 winners.
A 3-1 victory at Landore over category one side Brighton & Hove Albion followed after a Fletcher brace and an own goal, and a point in the reverse fixture would have been enough to secure a quarter-final place.
However, Mark Mahoney's 95th-minute header denied the Swans and their hopes of reaching the knockout stages went down to the wire as they faced Villa at Bodymoor Heath.
There had been heartbreak in the home fixture against the Villans, as Kobei Moore's 96th-minute winner had denied the Swans a point in a seven-goal thriller. The result ended a remarkable Swansea home record, with the development phase side not having previously lost a home game in all competitions since a defeat to Coventry on November 11 2022.
Moore would also be on the scoresheet in that final group stage fixture of the campaign in February.
Congreve had opened the scoring, but his strike was soon cancelled out by Moore's first-half penalty. However, a point was enough to send the Swans through to the knockout stages.
They bowed out of the competition in the next round after a 5-1 defeat to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, with Congreve netting the only Swans goal.
INTERNATIONAL DUTY
A number of under-21s represented their respective countries across the season.
Daniel Watts was called up to the Wales Under-19s’ squad ahead of their two friendlies against Finland in September.
Watts, 18, featured for Rob Edwards' young Dragons in the March international break, which included friendlies against Scotland and Sweden respectively.
Matty Jones' Under-21s' side have two European Championship qualifiers remaining and sit second in Group I, putting them in a strong position to reach the finals for the first time.
Evan Watts, Joel Cotterill, Congreve and Josh Thomas were selected in the squad for November qualifiers against Iceland and Denmark, where the young Dragons claimed victory over the former before losing to the Danes.
In March 2024, goalkeeper Watts made his debut in Wales' 2-1 victory against Lithuania, with Cotterill also in the starting line-up.
Lloyd, 19, made his first appearance for the age group in their friendly against Morocco days later.
LOANEES
This season, five academy players were loaned out to gain senior experience.
Nineteen-year-old Harry Jones made the loan switch to National League South side Weymouth on February 1, and went straight into the starting XI as the former Arsenal youth player got 55 minutes under his belt as they came from behind to beat Hemel Hempstead 4-3 in a thriller at the Bob Lucas Stadium a day later.
He went on to make 14 appearances, starting the last four fixtures of Weymouth's National League South campaign.
Ben Blythe joined JD Cymru Premier outfit Barry Town in August 2023, making his debut against Pontypridd United on September 2.
The former Doncaster Rovers defender was an ever-present in the JD Cymru Premier from that point on. Blythe was named in the Cymru Leagues' team of the week after scoring two goals and claiming an assist in Barry's 4-0 win over Newtown on January 6. In total, the 22-year-old made 22 appearances for the The Linnets.
Lincoln Mcfayden, meanwhile, joined Penybont FC in January 2024. The left-back capped off his debut with a goal against Colwyn Bay, finding the net with a sliding left-footed finish.
In the EFL, meanwhile, Josh Thomas and Joel Cotterill joined Port Vale and Stockport County respectively.
Thomas made his EFL debut in the Valiants' 7-0 defeat to Barnsley on the opening day of the season, and the Welsh youth International netted goals in the EFL Cup against Fleetwood Town and Sutton United respectively. He started all of Vale's games in the competition, helping them reach the quarter-finals.
The Swans academy product was handed his first senior start in professional football in a 1-0 win against Reading on August 12, and managed to bag an assist for the only goal of the game.
The 20-year-old went on the make 11 appearances in League One, following by four in the EFL Trophy, before returning to Swansea after suffering a quad injury in November 2023.
Cotterill, meanwhile, joined League Two's eventual champions Stockport County in August 2023.
He made his debut on September 2, assisting Isaac Olaofe’s 89th-minute equaliser in a 3-3 draw against Crawley Town.
He made his second EFL appearance in County’s dominant 5-0 over newly-promoted Wrexham at Edgeley Park.
The Wales age-grade international made his first start for the club in the first round of the Cheshire Senior Cup, which saw County bow out following a 2-0 defeat to Tranmere Rovers on September 26.
Cotterill scored his first senior goal in his career in County's 8-0 win over Sutton United in December, the youngster then returned to Swansea during January and played regularly for the under-21s.
