Wright | It was a game of two halves for us

Assistant coach Anthony Wright rued a game of two halves as Swansea City Under-23s were held to a 2-2 draw against their Exeter City counterparts in the Premier League Cup.

Jaden Forrester put the young Swans ahead in the first half with a tidy finish, but a miscommunication at the back allowed Exeter to level before the break.

The Grecians took the lead after a slow start to the second half from the Swans, but Forrester would net a second goal to level and earn a point for the Swans in Group F.

Wright felt his side have sealed the game in the first half, and was disappointed that their performance levels dropped in the second half.

“It was a game of two halves from our perspective. I thought in the first half we played some real good stuff and we were in control of the game,” said Wright.

“We created a lot of chances as well and we probably deserved to come in with a few goals.

“There was a mistake for their goal, and we said to the players at half-time that we take full responsibility for the mistakes because of the way we ask them to play. We have to accept the young players will make mistakes.

“We were really happy with the first half; the only disappointment was that we didn’t come away with a few goals that would have killed the game off.

“In the second half we started very slow, they changed formation slightly, I don’t think they pressed any more aggressively, but we didn’t come out of the blocks well for the first 15 to 20 minutes and we had a little spell where we controlled the game again.

“The score in the end is disappointing from a result perspective, I think we deserved to win the game overall with the amount we created in the first half. In the second half our focus levels definitely weren’t to level we accept as a group, we know were better than what we produced in that 45.

“The pleasing thing for us is that it’s three games undefeated, which in the first half of the season we were dominating most games that we played but getting caught out and ended up losing, whereas we seem to have turned the corner now."

Wright praised striker Forrester for his brace, while he was also pleased with debutant Joe Thomas, who joined this week from Cambrian & Clydach. 

“It’s brilliant for Jaden because he has had a stop start season with an injury and with Covid being around, so I’m really pleased for him," added Wright.

“He took his two goals really well, but for him he’s a little bit disappointed that he didn’t make it a hat-trick because he was one-on-one, but he’s just put it round the post.

“He’s got two goals today and he took them really well, we told him that he’s not going to be able to take every chance he gets, but on another day, he could have had three possibly four.

“Joe Thomas did well on his debut. It’s all new to Joe having just came in, we’re very pleased for him and he was very effective when we got him on the ball.”