SWINDON’S under 18s clinched their youth league title for the third successive season at the weekend following a 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

Miles Storey put Paul Bodin’s side ahead after 19 minutes before second-year scholar James Richards doubled the advantage nine minutes into the second with a long-range strike.

“It has been a good season, we only lost two games and a third title in three years is a fantastic achievement for the club,” said Bodin.

“If you look at the league table as it stands, we are the best goalscorers and we have got the fewest goals against. But the most important thing is the personal development of the players.”

Town have a respected youth development programme, with winger Alex Henshall and goalkeeper Jamie Stephens joining Premier League sides Manchester City and Liverpool respectively last year.

“We are a good example for other clubs because we make sure they get a BTEC in sport come the end of the two-year programme, they get a level two coaching badge and obviously their technical programme is the actual football side,” added Bodin.

“We sold arguably two good players who would have made an impact last season. We sold Alex Henshall to Manchester City for a quarter of a million pounds and Jamie Stephens to Liverpool.

“They are two players who would have played a prominent part this season but they have moved on and went with our best wishes. They are doing quite well and we certainly monitor their progress over the coming seasons.”