Richards: Plenty of positives

4th March

Gary Richards believes Swansea City Under-23s have plenty of positives to focus on despite being pegged back to a 2-2 draw by Arsenal in Premier League 2.

The Swans took a 2-0 lead into half-time at Meadow Park thanks to goals from Liam Cullen and Matthew Blake.

But Arsenal hit back with a vengeance after the break and ensured a share of the spoils after late strikes from substitutes Folarin Balogun and Nathan Tormey.

Nevertheless, the young Swans demonstrated strong character when they were forced to play the dying moments with 10 men after Joe Lewis was harshly sent off.

And despite having let a two-goal cushion slip, Richards insists there are many positives to take from his players’ performance.

“The players are very disappointed because, when you’re 2-0 up, you’re hoping to keep hold of that lead. However, we’ll focus on the positives,” the under-23s coach said.

“We were really pleased at half-time. Things couldn’t have gone much better for us. We looked good defensively, were very well-organised and carried a real threat. We were delighted with the goals, too.

“The second half is something we’ll look to learn from, though. Arsenal are a good team and got into their flow. Maybe, we could have kept the ball a bit better, but they put us under a lot of pressure.

“After the sending-off, we were hanging on a bit but managed to do so and get a point, which is another positive for us.

“The boys may be a bit disappointed, but we’re still unbeaten in four games and have momentum to take forward.”