Anthony Wright | The players will be stronger for this amazing experience

Coach Anthony Wright believes the Swansea City Under-21s’ squad will be stronger for their Nathaniel MG Cup final experience after they were beaten 5-1 by The New Saints at Jenner Park.

Goals from Ryan Brobbel and Josh Pask gave the Swans a mountain to climb at the break, before Brad Young made it 3-0 to the Cymru Premier champions early in the second half.

Ben Lloyd responded for the Swans, calmly steering the ball home when Lincoln McFayden’s cross was not cleared.

But a quickfire double from Adrian Cieslewicz in stoppage time ensured TNS won the Nathaniel MG Cup for a 10th time.

Wright was disappointed to miss out on the trophy, but believes the players will have developed through the experience as they got the chance to face men’s sides in knockout competition; with only Welsh domestic football’s dominant force over recent years preventing them from lifting silverware.

“We’ll come back again and be stronger for it, no doubt,” said Wright.

“It’s been a real good experience for the players, we are going to hurt. We are disappointed to have conceded those late goals, I don’t think the scoreline reflects the game but we will regroup and learn from it.

“We said all through this competition our objective was to get to the final and give the players a brilliant experience, which they’ve had today.

“We’ve fallen short, we always knew it was going to be tough. We’ll reflect, dust ourselves down and get ready to go again with another game on Tuesday.

“I told the players not to be too down on themselves, we will reflect and learn as a group and as individuals.

“The difference was coming up against players who are pros and have that knowhow to punish us when we give them opportunities.”

Wright also praised the character his team showed after a tough first half, particularly with injuries meaning some players were having to be played out of position.

“It’s a young group, we’ve come in at half-time and we could have felt sorry for ourselves, but I think the players stuck together and I think we had a lot of control of the game in the second half,” added Wright.

“Ultimately, it wasn’t enough control in an area where we could have been dangerous.

“We scored a really good goal, but we didn’t penetrate that final third well enough throughout the game.

“We’ve lost quite a few players this week, by no means am I making any excuses for the result, but we were asking players to play out of position, and at times when we needed that in the final third it did show but I am proud of their efforts in the final and throughout the competition.

“I also want to mention our supporters. We get a good turn out at home games, but everyone today was singing and getting behind the players, which is a brilliant experience for them.”