A plethora of goalscoring riches at Swansea City : Thomas Woodward
Sunday, 16th Jul 2023 19:36 by @Cornish67David & Keith Haynes

With Iwan Morgan rising to prominence, now with the under 21 side and Sammy Henia-Kamau settling in to his role with the under 18’s it’s clear the last few seasons are bearing fruit. In the case of Morgan he has progressed boldly to the under 21 side. The latter scoring on his debut today for the under 18 side.

Those technically gifted youngsters at the Swans have been drilled through their paces as they rise through the age grades, so maybe we should look at one special talent ? Thomas Woodward has been at the Swans since he came to the club as an under 9 player. Aside from his pace he now has a goalscoring touch which has seen him elevated today to the under 21 side that beat Briton Ferry 6-1. And yes, Thomas scored.

It was only last October he moved up from the youth set up to under 18 football, and within nine months here he is, at sixteen years of age with the under 21 side and scoring. On his debut last October Thomas said. "It's a great feeling playing with the Under-18s, and it's been good starting some games in recent months. I just need to keep my feet on the ground and hopefully, I can continue to impress. Playing at this level, it's quick and intense, you've really got to protect the ball, and that's something I like to do”

Well, impress he is certainly doing, you don’t get a chance at one step below the first team for not being impressive and working hard. The academy have been brave at times over the past year, they fielded ten players under sixteen in the under 18 game against Crewe last season. Again Thomas scored, so it’s learning quickly against players much older as well. The same can be said of today with Thomas getting on the scoresheet along with Iwan Morgan in a game which featured some experienced Briton Ferry players, a few twice his age.

It doesn’t seem to phase him, featuring regularly in glowing terms last season for an ever improving academy set up has clearly put Thomas in a great place. There is a plethora of goalscoring talent below the first team at Swansea and it’s exciting to see, and hopefully some of them will walk out at the Swansea.Com Stadium and experience that full on atmosphere very soon.