Dan Sheehan | We need to find that killer instinct

Swansea City Women assistant coach Dan Sheehan was pleased with the togetherness his side showed in the 4-2 defeat to Wrexham, but admitted the team still need to find a ruthless edge when facing the Genero Adran Premier’s top sides.

The Swans took the lead twice against Wrexham, with Chloe Chivers opening the scoring midway through the first half before Hannah Barker equalised from the spot nine minutes later.

Aimee Deacon then restored the lead just two minutes into the second half but another penalty for Wrexham on the hour mark would see the hosts level proceedings for the second time, before Lilli-Mai Jones and Rosie Hughes netted late goals to secure the win.

With the Swans having relinquished a lead against Cardiff just a couple of weeks ago, Sheehan believes they need to develop the killer instinct to see games through.

“This is a tough result to take,” he said.

“I think for the first 60 minutes we looked resilient, strong and on the front foot but for whatever reason we dropped our intensity a little bit and they looked to cause us problems in behind, which they did.

"The girls stuck together, and when it went to 3-2 we changed the formation to try and get an equaliser. Unfortunately, they were able to grab one at the end, but overall I’m happy with the intensity and application of the players. It’s frustrating when you play well but don’t get the result to match it. 

“It was similar to the Cardiff game in that when we do go ahead, we don’t quite find that killer instinct to really kill the game off. One goal cushions are really tough to give you any sort of barrier, especially against the better teams in this league.

“We have to look at ourselves and ask whether, when we go ahead, do we sit off the opposition more than we should, and whether we’re actually at our best when we keep playing on the front foot.

“The main thing for me is that we stuck together as a group. We will work hard in the week and try to get back into that positive mindset that we have had over the last few weeks, but right now it hurts.”