Steve Cooper's praise for summer signings

Steve Cooper praised the impact of his summer signings as Swansea City signed off their short pre-season preparations with victory over Forest Green Rovers.

Forward Jamal Lowe was on the scoresheet as he bagged his first goal for the club since joining from Wigan, with former Bristol City captain Korey Smith providing a fine assist.

Lowe then combined with Wolves loanee Morgan Gibbs-White to set up Yan Dhanda for the second goal as the Swans boosted their preparations for their first competitive fixture of the 2020-21 campaign – a trip to Newport County in the Carabao Cup.

And Cooper was pleased with the performances of the outfield trio.

“I thought Jamal’s goal was excellent, and it was a sign of what he is and what he can do with the run in behind and the real power to get in the box with a clinical finish,” said the Swans boss.

“Korey and the link-up play with Morgan was brilliant, as was the ball in behind for Jamal’s goal.

“They played in the way we want them to play and showed their individual talents within it.

“It was a good goal and I’m pleased with their contributions.”

For the friendly fixture, Cooper’s defensive options were limited due to international call-ups for Wales pair Connor Roberts and Ben Cabango, England Under-21s centre-back Marc Guehi and Wales Under-21s duo Brandon Cooper and Joe Lewis.

That meant Joe Rodon was the only senior centre-back available, with the 22-year-old joined by Kyle Naughton and midfielder Jay Fulton in a defensive trio.

However, Cooper felt his changes gave him further options for the season ahead – starting with Saturday’s trip to Rodney Parade to take on the League Two Exiles.

“We’re not going to make any excuses. We’ve only got one first-team centre-back in the shape of Joe so we’ve got to be a little creative around that but Jay filled in - he’s a player I can trust and we can rely on. I think he did more than a competent job there,” he added.

“We are missing players but it is the international break, we never want to stand in the way of players playing for their national team and we’re left with what we’re left with but there are no excuses.

“We’ll prepare as we do normally for Newport.”