Jon Beale | Everyone should be proud of themselves

Coach Jon Beale believes his players have so much to be proud of, despite their disappointment at exiting the FA Youth Cup at the hands of Blackburn Rovers at the Swansea.com Stadium. 

It was a courageous performance from the young Swans who were unfortunate to have two goals disallowed either side of the break, but a brace from Rovers' Valentin Joseph secured a place in the quarter-finals for the visitors.

The hosts, who had done superbly to reach the showpiece with two dramatic wins against Hull City and Leeds United respectively, had the better of large parts of the opening half at the Swansea.com Stadium, with Callum Jones, Kai Rhodes and Josiah Kallicharan all going close.

"I think if we look back on our performance from the 90 minutes, it probably doesn't warrant the outcome of the game," said Beale.

"We had some really good moments in the game, and there's learning from us to take away from the goals that we conceded.

"I'm really proud of the boys, I thought for large parts of the game we controlled it, and looked the better team and the more threatening team.

"We knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, Blackburn had many threats on the pitch and caused us trouble at times. On another night, it could have been completely different.

"It's been a long time since the club got to this stage, and I can sense the overriding feeling of disappointment in the dressing room, but when the dust settles, I think they can definitely be proud of themselves."