Byron Anthony praises character as U18s fightback secures a point

11th September
Byron Anthony

Swansea Under-18s coach Byron Anthony praised the second-half performance of his side after they fought back from a two-goal deficit to earn a 3-3 draw away at Peterborough.

The Swans found themselves 3-1 down at half-time, but second-half goals from Cameron Congreve and Geoff Bony earned the visitors a point against the Posh.

Anthony was unhappy with the start that his side made, but was pleased with the work rate from his players, and felt they could even have taken all three points.

“It was a tale of two halves, we knew Peterborough would be organised, we knew they would play when they could, but we’ve been done early, we were still on the coach when they scored their first goal,” he said.

“We did some good stuff in the first half with the ball, but we were disjointed out of possession.

“It was a disappointing first half, but at half-time we asked for a reaction from the players and in the second half I think we bossed the game.

“We should win the game 5-3 in the end, we got our just rewards getting the three goals, but really, we should be going on and winning with the chances we created.

“There were some really good individual performances with and without the ball and, to be fair to the players, they put in a shift. It was a warm afternoon and they stuck to the way we play, which is really important to me.

“It was more about finding solutions, we identified the problems they were causing us, we had a good honest conversation about the solutions.

“Some of the players were identifying the solutions, which is really pleasing, and we used that in the second half.

“When we played down the sides of Peterborough we managed to stretch the game and let our midfielders get on the ball.”

Anthony’s side turn to cup action next as they welcome Bristol City to Landore on Friday.