Thomas Woodward "over the moon" with maiden under-18s' hat-trick

Striker Thomas Woodward was "over the moon" after scoring his first hat-trick for Swansea City Under-18s in their 4-2 victory over Ipswich Town.

Afi Adebayo had given the Tractor Boys the ideal start inside three minutes at Landore when he finished off a solo run.

Woodward would draw the Swans level from a tight angle not long after, before putting the hosts ahead from Aimar Govea's delivery.

The visitors equalised shortly after the break, Luke Towler tapping home from a set-piece, but former Tottenham man Josh Pescatore fashioned a brilliant strike within four minutes of his introduction to restore Swansea’s lead.

Woodward then completed his treble in stoppage time, showing brilliant skill to fend off his man and slot home the hosts’ fourth goal of the contest.

The 17-year-old is now the second highest goal-scorer in the Professional Development League, with 11 goals to his name, three behind Barnsley's Emmaisa Nzondo.

"It feels great to have finally got a hat-trick to my name. I'm over the moon and, even more importantly, it has helped the boys get the win," said Woodward.

"As soon as I got two, I knew I had to push on to get a third. We all play together as a team, and they all play a part in my goals, especially Aimar [Govea].

"Often, I can arrive late into the box and he'll pick me out and he's done that again in this game. We've also been working on making runs in behind, and I managed to score from two of them, as well. 

"We kind of knew what to expect from Ipswich, as we played them less than a month ago in the FA Youth Cup. But we always do our pre-match analysis with the coaches, and we take learning from that.

"We ended 2023 with a win, and have now started 2024 with a win. We have a busy January, and this good start to the year will keep us going."