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U23 Match Report | Swansea City 1-3 Cardiff City

Academy
Cardiff City’s U23 side comfortably defeated Swansea City U23 3-1 in the Professional Development League at Landore Training Ground on Monday evening.

Matthew Bloxham made four changes from the 2-1 victory over Ipswich Town last time out, as George Ratcliffe, Joel Bagan, Eli King and Jack Leahy started.

The Bluebirds began on top and opened the scoring inside the opening three minutes. Right-back Jai Semenyo charged forward, before unleashing a powerful strike from just outside the area that couldn’t be stopped.

City looked for a second and nearly got it, three minutes later. Striker Chanka Zimba strolled into the box, before seeing his shot saved by Lewis Webb and shortly after, attacker Leahy found himself in a similar position, but his effort was blocked.

Despite the Bluebirds’ attacking pressure, the home team managed to get an equaliser after 12 minutes. Lincoln McFayden found the net at close range.

Cardiff City remained composed and went on to take the lead once more, one minute prior to the half hour mark. Forward Zimba met midfielder King’s floated cross, powering a header home.

The Bluebirds performed determinedly in hunt of a third goal and it came just five minutes later. Forward Isaak Davies found himself one-on-one with goalkeeper Webb and made no mistake in increasing his side’s advantage to two goals.

After the interval, City aimed to continue their dominant play, but their defence was tested just two minutes in. Shot stopper Ratcliffe was forced to keep out Tarrelle Whittaker before scorer McFayden with superb stops.

Play then tightened as both teams eyed the next goal and the Bluebirds next came close with 58 minutes on the clock. James Connolly rose high in the area and the captain’s header travelled agonisingly over.

Both defences stood resilient for the remainder and no further clear-cut opportunities arose, which marked an eighth win from Cardiff City’s eighth game in the 2021/22 Professional Development League.

U23 FINAL SCORE: SWANSEA CITY 1-3 CARDIFF CITY

Swansea City: Webb, Rushesha, Jones, Abdulai (Morgan 52’), Cooper, Erickson (Butler 45’), Leverett (Forrester 87’), Williams, Whittaker, Dhanda, McFayden. Subs not used: Hansen, Jones.

Cardiff City: Ratcliffe, Semenyo (Bakare 80’), Bagan (Pritchard 62’), Jones, Denham, Connolly, Patten, King, Zimba, Leahy, I. Davies (Ashford 88’). Subs not used: Turner, Kavanagh.

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