Keston Davies Swansea City
25th January
Swans Under-21s captain Keston Davies admitted the disappointment of the quarter-final Checkatrade Trophy defeat was eased by the level of support from the Swans faithful on Tuesday.
Almost 3,500 people turned out at the Liberty Stadium to support the young Swans, who were the last academy side left in the restructured competition, go up against League One side Coventry City.
With the scores level at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the U21s lost 4-2 on penalties.
Despite the defeat and exit from the competition, skipper Davies admitted the team where buoyed by the amount of support they had.
"It was such a buzz to walk out onto that pitch and see so many fans," the 20-year-old defender said.
"Many of the boys, including myself, had not played in front of that many people before, so it was an immense feeling.
"On behalf of the team, I just want to say a massive thank you to all the fans coming out and supporting us though this competition. We are very grateful.
"Their support has helped us achieve this season. The crowds have been growing and growing - not just here (Liberty Stadium), but at Landore as well.
"We have cherished that, and hopefully it can continue for our games until the end of the season."
An Oli McBurnie penalty put the young Swans into the lead in the second half at the Liberty.
Despite dominating large spells of the game, Coventry pulled level through Jordan Willis' header inside the final five minutes before penalties decided the outcome.
"It was a massive achievement for us to get this far," Davies continued. "We have worked so hard this season.
"It is a pity it has come to an end the way it has. No one likes to lose on penalties. I think if we had had a couple more minutes we could have got another goal.
"I think we did ourselves justice, but it is mixed emotions as we all feel we could have gone further.
"We matched Coventry 100 percent, but it is one of those game that was not meant to be.
"We have to take the result on the chin and turn our focus back to the league and the other cup competitions we are in.
"The boys have all done themselves proud. Now we have to push on and continue our hard work in our next game."
