Swansea City Under-23s Gary Richards
24th October
Gary Richards was delighted to see Swansea City Under-23s extend their unbeaten run in Premier League 2 on Monday as the side took a 2-1 win against Aston Villa.
The young Swans soaked-up early pressure from the home side to take the lead at Bodymoor Heath when Owain Jones fired home George Byers' corner from close range.
Villa equalised from set piece of their own in the second half before pressure from the flanks saw a cross from Tyler Reid turned into Villa's own net by the unfortunate Easah Suliman under pressure from Oli McBurnie.
Swansea held on to maintain their table-topping form in Division 2 with back-to-back league wins following last week's win against Fulham.
"We always knew Villa were going to be a big test." Richards said. "We managed the game for good periods and played well in patches but there are still areas we need to improve on.
"We did very well when we passed the ball but we gave possession away too many times and that meant Villa made it difficult for us.
"Despite some mistakes today we showed some excellent character to take the win. Even when Villa equalised we continued to show our fight and grit to get a victory which paid off with the end result.
"We have excellent home form but we want to extend that consistency on the road this season, today's result is a step towards that.
"Another win puts us in a good league position but we must keep working hard and keep our concentration on the pitch going forward."
