Anthony Wright delighted with Birmingham City victory

Head coach Anthony Wright was delighted with his Swansea City Under-21s' players as they overcame a strong Birmingham City team at the Swansea.com Stadium to all-but guarantee a place in the Professional Development League play-offs later this month.

Joe Thomas’ first-half goal was the difference as he toed in from a corner delivery in injury time to deservedly put the home side ahead at the break. 

And the Swans almost doubled their lead early in the second period when Bradley Mayo tipped Ben Lloyd’s vicious effort onto the crossbar.

But it was ultimately a resolute defensive second-half performance which sealed the three points, with Evan Watts making some fine stops, while Kian Jenkins also cleared off the line.

“We’re really, really pleased with the players and the different aspects of the game they showed,” said Wright.

“That’s probably the best team we’ve played this season in this competition. They’re an established under-21s' side and we were quite a young team, so to see young players stand up the way they did at times, I’m really pleased with that. 

“I thought we had a lot of control, especially in the first half, but second half it became more open and we had to soak up some pressure. But, again, we’re so, so pleased that the players stuck together and got over the line.”

The Swans coach also took time to praise the whole squad for everything they’ve achieved in another successful campaign for the development side, who reached the final of the Nathaniel MG Cup earlier in the season.

“We’ve had a cup final, it looks like we’ve finished second in the league, we faced category one programmes in the group stage of the Premier League Cup - which is the toughest competition we’ve been in - and we came through that, and I thought we were terrific.

“We lost the quarter-final to a very strong side, but objective-wise the season was about us trying to stretch players as much as we can and - more importantly - getting players in the first team. We’ve had three debuts this year, which is fantastic for the academy and that’s the main goal.

“We start again next year. It’s the end of the journey for some players and I can’t praise them enough, because they’re still turning up every day and working their socks off to be better.”