Joe Roberts | We are happy with the win, but we know we can improve

Swansea City Under-18s coach Joe Roberts was pleased to see his team secure a second south Wales derby victory in a week, but admitted there are still plenty of areas to improve on.

Goals from Kaven Bloniarczyk, Callum Jones, and Kai Rhodes saw the Swans secure a 3-0 victory over Cardiff City, backing up a 4-1 win last week.

However, the first half was especially scrappy at times, with neither team able to fully impose themselves on the game.

The side lifted their performance after the break, securing two goals and a second successive home clean sheet.

Roberts praised the team’s mentality in handling two derby matches in a week, but feels that better decision-making during key moments will help them control games more effectively.

“We are pleased with the result. There are elements to the performance that we were a bit frustrated with," he said.

“It’s great for the boys to have a positive result two weeks on the spin but there were definitely times where we could have been a lot tidier and cleaner in possession.

“We want to be able to play with control and structure, and at times we didn’t do that very well today. There were definitely moments of the game where we could have made better decisions which is what we have explained to the boys and where their learning is crucial.

“Mentally, playing a derby two weeks on the bounce can be a little bit draining because normally they are never played this close, so I think the psychological side of playing Cardiff twice in two weeks was a big challenge for the boys and it was something we relished. 

“It meant the boys were put into a situation that they were not used to and its always nice to keep a clean sheet in any football game, and as a group of staff its something we try and implement on the boys to have that attitude and application to keep the ball out of the net.”