Ben Lloyd | We need to play for ninety minutes

Swansea City under-21 forward Ben Lloyd believes his young Swans teammates need to start performing over the full ninety minutes of matches to build on their recent good form. 

The team produced a remarkable turnaround in the Premier League Cup at Landore to win 5-2 after trailing 2-0 at the interval. A brace from Lloyd, strikes from Cameron Congreve, Lincoln McFayden and a stoppage time header from Joe Thomas sealing an emphatic win in the end for the side coached by Jon Grey and Anthony Wright. 

It could have been different had Burnley managed to take their chances when on top. An outstanding performance from Ben Hughes in the Swans goal kept the Clarets at bay, before the clinical Swans mounted their fightback.

“To be fair to him [Hughes], he’s been unbelievable for us and deserves all the credit he gets," said Lloyd.

"He’s worked hard over the last 18-months. Now he’s flying and has been incredible for us. Full credit to him.

“The first half wasn’t acceptable. There were too many times when we were giving the ball away.

"To be fair to the boys we came out fighting [in the second half] and we stuck to the game plan which we didn’t do in the first half, it turned the game around with us scoring five goals. 

“It’s a good feeling but we want to be a team who plays over 90 minutes not 45. If we played the way we did in the second half in the first, we could have won by even more.

"It’s a good feeling though in the changing room."

Lloyd was also quick to show gratitude to the coaching staff and the part they have played in his excellent recent form which has seen the youngster take his tally to five goals in all competitions for the development side. 

“To be fair Greyo [Grey] has been staying out with me after training. All we’ve done is finishing, finishing, finishing”, explained Lloyd. 

“Credit to him, he’s been so good as has Wrighty [Wright] training on finishing with me. It’s showing in the games now and I'm finally putting away the chances. My target now has to be high, 15-20 goals."

Swans under-21s team will face a tough challenge in their next Premier League Cup match when they host the academy side from current Premier League leaders Arsenal in SA1 on Saturday.

Lloyd wants the Swans to be confident ahead of that game and aim to replicate their second half performance for the full match.

“It will be a different game [against Arsenal]," he added.

"We have to play the way we played in the second half.

"I believe if we play the way we can then we can go and beat anyone. Regardless of who they are, I feel we’ve just got to go out and play our way and come out with a result which I believe we can. Roll on Saturday."