Steve Cooper | FA Cup an opportunity, not a hindrance

Steve Cooper insists Swansea City only see their FA Cup tie at QPR as an opportunity to continue to improve.

Following a hectic festive schedule, the third-round weekend comes at a challenging time in the season for many clubs.

The trend has been for heavy rotation of line-ups but, while Cooper may well choose to make changes at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, there is no question that the head coach and his charges are focused on ensuring their name is in the fourth-round draw.

And Cooper, 40, is looking forward to his first experience of the famous old knock-out competition.

“It’s a real opportunity for us, and it’s a brilliant one,” he said.

“It’s the FA Cup, it’s a great competition and it’s my first experience of it.

“For me, game days are the best days and I cannot get enough of them.

“You experience your biggest highest and lowest lows, for sure, but bring another game on because that’s what it’s about.

“We had a good day down at QPR earlier in the season, they are a fellow Championship team so they are a familiar opposition.

“Mark Warburton plays a good brand of football so it’s got the makings of a good game and one we look forward to it.

“It’s certainly not a hindrance. It’s about having the resilience to keep going and you get better through putting your work on the training pitch into practice on game day.

“We want to get to the next round, and it’s another chance to improve.”