In the early hours of Saturday 3rd May the Glentoran Academy 1999s and four guests from Ridgeway Rovers set sail towards the south west of Wales to participate in a friendly game with their Welsh counterparts at Swansea City Academy. The game was set up through a link between Glentoran, Ridgeway Rovers, Playball at the Stormont Pavilion and Swansea City AFC.
The players and coaching staff arrived in Wales’ second largest city just in time to be guests of the club at Swansea City’s Premier League clash with Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton. The Glentoran boys were so close to the action they were within touching distance of the players and soaked up the tremendous atmosphere generated by both sets of supporters in a packed stadium. After the game which the Saints nicked at the death, the boys shopped in the club megastore and posed for photographs with players from both sides as they left the stadium. A special mention should be made to Northern Ireland player Steven Davis who came off the team coach to pose for photographs and sign numerous autographs for the boys.
Manager Michael Morrow was eager to test his players against Premier League opposition and after a lengthy journey from East Belfast his players were keen to demonstrate that they could compete against quality opposition. The Glentoran boys were fortunate enough to be allowed to use the first team training facilities on the morning of the game and the match itself was to be played on the first team’s immaculate training pitch.
Morrow instilled in his players a sense of self belief before the game which was evident shortly after the game began. The 1999s started confidently whilst striving to avoid conceding an early goal which could leave them facing an uphill battle. Jordan Arbothnut should have put Glentoran in the lead when he danced his way past two challenges before dinking the ball past the oncoming keeper which bounced past the wrong side of the post. The Glens didn’t have long to wait though before taking the lead when Malachi Doherty latched onto a poor clearance by the Swansea goalkeeper by beating a defender to the ball and driving into the box before unleashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net from a tight angle. However the Swans restored parity shortly before half time with a curling effort into the top corner of the goal from the edge of the box.
A flurry of substitutions from both teams after half time disrupted the rhythm of the game and Swansea capitalised by scoring two quick fire goals which left the Glens undeservedly trailing 3-1. The Glens brought the score line back to a more realistic 3-2 when Tre Stirling found the bottom corner of the net with a left foot shot from the edge of the area after great work by Scott McArthur down the right. The Glentoran boys missed a couple of chances in the closing minutes to draw level and the game finished 3-2 to their Welsh counterparts in what was an evenly fought contest.
The performance of the 1999s, coupled with their exemplary behaviour throughout the trip and the hospitality of all those associated with Swansea City made it a successful venture on all fronts.
A big thank you must go to Gerry Kelly and Paul Shaw form Playball, Roy and Gary from Swansea City, Ridgeway Rovers players (Ben, Kieran, Stuart and Adam) and Debbie Foster for her hard work.