Toshack praises "mature" U23s' display

Cameron Toshack has praised the maturity shown by Swansea City Under-23s in their 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League Cup.

Having already qualified for the knockout stages, the young Swans rounded off the opening phase of the competition by securing top spot in Group E with an impressive win over their in-form opponents on Tuesday night.

Rob Edwards' Wolves came into the contest on the back of a four-game winning streak – during which they had not conceded a single goal – and were one of only three teams yet to taste defeat in the group stage of this season’s tournament.

But, after holding their own during a low-key first half, Max Kilman’s own-goal put the visitors in front just after the hour mark before Oli Cooper sealed the victory in the third minute of stoppage time.

And Toshack, who fielded nine teenagers at Compton Park, says his players can be very proud of their efforts.

“Everybody’s delighted with the performance,” the under-23s' coach said. “It’s fair to say they showed a lot of maturity beyond their age.

“We know that Wolves are a good academy with good players and, in the first half, they caused us problems with their movement. However, we regrouped and, after the break, there was only going to be one team that were going to go on and win the game.

“Nine of the players that started are academy graduates – three of which are still scholars – so they deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they approached the game and got their just rewards.

“These youngsters were put in to gain experience and not only did they do that, but also proved they could cope with the occasion. That is very pleasing for the academy.”

The Swans also progressed to the knockout stages of the Checkatrade Trophy as group winners earlier in the season.

Toshack is delighted to have repeated the feat in the Premier League Cup and believes victory provides the squad with plenty of momentum ahead of their Premier League 2 showdown with Arsenal on Monday.

“Two of our goals at the start of the season were to qualify from the group stage of this competition and the Checkatrade Trophy, so we’re very pleased to have achieved that,” he added.

“We now have a home draw and will look forward to that. First, we’ve got a tricky game against Arsenal on Monday, but we can certainly go into it with positive momentum and that is very important.”