Swansea City Under-23s Keston Davies

26th March

Keston Davies hailed the benefits of playing teams from across Europe as Swansea City Under-23s narrowly lost out in the semi-final of the Premier League International Cup against Porto B on Saturday.
Davies' header almost gave the young Swans the lead in the first half, but the side fell to a 1-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium against the LigaPro champions, who play in the second tier of the Portuguese league system.
Despite the defeat, the U23s captain - who has helped the side to victories over Feyenoord, Chelsea and Hertha Berlin this season - believes the competition has helped the players develop this season. 
"We have come really far this season, but fell just short against a good side," Davies said.



"We gave it all we had, so it is not an easy defeat to take at this stage of the competition.
"We has our chances all over the pitch and I think we did well against an experienced side. You want to play against the best players and Porto are one of the best sides we have played against this campaign.
"They play in the LigaPro, which is like the Championship when compared to the UK, meaning they play against seasoned professionals every week which is a massive benefit to them.
"It was a good test for us, even though we have lost the game we can take a lot of positives from our campaign this season.
"We have beaten some big teams on the way to the semi-final. We have to hold our heads high and look ahead to the next challenge."