Anthony Wright | We are disappointed, but we will learn from it

Coach Anthony Wright admitted his Swansea City Under-21s side had been well below their best after they were beaten 5-2 at Wigan Athletic on Tuesday afternoon.

The Swans had taken the lead in the early stages through Josh Pescatore, but a Wigan trialist had the hosts level not long after.

Morgan Bates struck home before the break to regain the lead for the visitors, but yet another goal from the trialist brought the Latics on level terms going in to half-time.

The trialist went on to score a further two goals in the second period, with substitute Cole Simms adding a fifth in the final seconds of the match to secure the spoils for the hosts.

It was the age-grade's first loss of the Professional Development League campaign, and they will look to bounce back when they face Bristol City at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday (1pm kick-off).

"A day that went from bad to worse as the afternoon went on. I felt we didn’t win enough individual battles and - although we were 2-1 up at one point - we didn’t really deserve to be," said Wright.

"I have spoken with the players around their individual focus and demanding more from each other and themselves, especially when having a tough afternoon. 

"We also spoke about the importance of being brave with the ball and not dumping it on each other, which is something we did in this game. We put our goalkeeper under far too much pressure by not taking responsibility.

"Defensively there were too many gaps between units, we were not aggressive enough closing space and this comes from the back line not stepping up the pitch to keep that defensive connection. 

"Overall, it was a difficult day where we have let ourselves down with the performance, and to make matters worse the goals we have conceded we cannot accept at this level.

"We have to dust ourselves down, learn from this as a group of players and get ready to go again Saturday. It’s the boys' first loss of the league this season, so I’m looking at how we bounce back from this defeat on Saturday. 

"We do have some international players who will be back so this will give us some help with the squad."