Potter pleased with day's work

Graham Potter reckons his Swansea City players have got another good day’s work under their belts after a pair of penalty shootouts in the Interwetten Cup.

The Swans played back-to-back 60-minute games against Genoa and FC Magdeburg and both ended level.

A last-gasp header from substitute Oli McBurnie saw the Swans draw 1-1 with Serie A side Genoa, who had gone in front early in the second half through Krzysztof Piatek.

But despite one fine penalty save from Erwin Mulder, Potter’s men were beaten 4-3 in the shootout after Kyle Naughton and Jordi Amat both saw their spot-kicks saved.

Potter then fielded an entirely new XI against hosts Magdeburg, with Jordan Ayew going closest to finding a winner for the Swans as the game finished goalless.

Andre Ayew then saw his penalty saved in the second shootout of the day while Wayne Routledge’s effort went wide.

That meant that despite one Magdeburg miss, the hosts finished up as 4-2 victors.

But Potter was understandably unconcerned about the penalties, preferring instead to focus on another solid shift for nearly every member of his travelling squad.

“This was a good exercise for us in terms of being able to let everybody get some game-time again,” said the Swans boss.

“We had a long day of travel yesterday and it’s a warm day here with an energy-sapping pitch.

“But overall it’s another good exercise for us. We have got more information.

“We are looking at all the players we have and getting as much information as we can.

“We are building that fitness and also trying to get the players to understand what we are trying to do.

“Some things were good today and some things weren’t, which is normal at this stage of the season.

“We now move on to Austria and the next stage of our preparation.”

Potter was happier with the Swans’ performance against Genoa, when his team enjoyed some good spells of possession and claimed a pleasing late goal when McBurnie met Asoro’s cross.

“We did quite well in the first half against Genoa,” he added.

“We got in some dangerous area. They did too and it was a relatively even game.

“They came out well in the second half and got the goal, but credit to us, we kept going and got back into it. It was good for Oli to get his goal after a good bit of play by Joel.

“There were some positives in that match for us.

“Magdeburg was a little bit different. It was a bit more end to end and probably didn’t suit us as much, although we got a clean sheet thanks to a couple of saves from Kristoffer (Nordfeldt).

“But we are looking more at everyone on the pitch coming through it, which they have done today. Now we move on to our next training base and move forward from there.”

Of the touring players who were available to Potter, only young keeper Steven Benda did not get any game-time.

Centre-back Federico Fernandez was left out having received a bang on the thigh during last Wednesday’s friendly win over Newport, but he is expected to get game-time during the Swans’ stay in Austria.

McBurnie came on at half-time in the Genoa game having had a quad problem, while Nathan Dyer and Jefferson Montero are also being eased into action.

“We are just building Oli up, and it’s the same with Nathan and Jefferson to some extent,” Potter explained.

“We are just being careful with the number of minutes they can play. They have all come through with no problem, so that’s good.”

Magdeburg went on to lift the Interwetten Cup after beating Genoa 2-0 in the final game of the day.