Cardiff City’s U18 side comfortably defeated Swansea City 3-0 in the PDL Cup at Landore Training Ground on Saturday.
A Japhet Mpadi double and Joel Colwill spot-kick earned the Bluebirds three points and a clean sweep of Group A.
The game got off to a tight start and no chances came until the 11th minute, when the clinical Bluebirds took the lead. James Crole broke along the right flank, before rounding Ben Hughes and cutting back for forward Mpadi to finish.
City hunted for a second and neared it 12 minutes later. Midfielder Colwill made a charging run along the right flank before playing the ball into the path of Cian Ashford, who was denied by Filip Lissah’s strong block.
After the interval, the visitors continued to look for the game’s next goal and similar to the beginning of the first-half, both defences stood resilient as no clear-cut opportunities arose until shortly after the hour mark. Jake Dennis’ super stop kept Iwan Morgan out.
The game then opened up and Cardiff City doubled their advantage just two minutes later. The dangerous Mpadi pounced again, finishing beautifully past goalkeeper Hughes and earning a brace.
From the restart, the Bluebirds attacked once more and came close to a third. Rhys Schwank found forward Crole with a low cross, but he put the ball agonisingly over the crossbar.
City weren’t letting up and with 72 minutes on the clock, they were awarded a penalty. Colwill, who won it, stepped up and coolly slotted home to treble his team’s advantage.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙡𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨… 💙
— Cardiff City Academy (@CF11Academy) November 27, 2021
Joel netted for the U18s in their 3-0 win over @SwansOfficial, before Rubin scored in the First Team’s 2-1 victory at @LutonTown! 👏#CityAsOne pic.twitter.com/ELkjuJhRot
Cardiff City went in search of a fourth, but the home defence stood strong for the remainder and the Bluebirds go into the knockouts off the back of three wins from three, 12 goals and three clean sheets in the PDL Cup.
U18 FINAL SCORE: SWANSEA CITY 0-3 CARDIFF CITY
Swansea City: Hughes, Lissah, Jenkins (Myers 70’), Edwards (Cooper 51’), Jones, Dabrowski, Davies, Lloyd, Bony (Morgan 60’), Veevers, Hillier. Subs not used: Margetson.
Cardiff City: Dennis, MacNamara, Davies (Ware 67’), Rippon, Clay (Keeping 46’), Crew (Kenniford 74’), Schwank, Colwill, Crole, Ashford, Mpadi. Subs not used: C. Jones, Jefferies.