Anthony Wright rues costly errors as Swansea City Under-21s see unbeaten home streak ended

Coach Anthony Wright admitted his Swansea City Under-21 players were devastated after their last-gasp Premier League Cup defeat to Aston Villa ended their long unbeaten run on home turf.

The Swans had taken a deserved lead at Landore with a fine finish from Kristian Fletcher as the forward netted the 10th goal of his loan spell, but the visitors quickly levelled from a Teddy Rowe free-kick.

However, the hosts were dominant for much of the second half and further goals from Sam Parker and Kyrell Wilson seemingly put them in control.

However, Rico Richards soon pulled a goal back for Villa before Kobei Moore rifled the ball into the roof of the net with four minutes to play.

Striker Moore then broke Swansea hearts by steering an unerring effort into the far corner deep in stoppage time.

The Swans remain firmly in the mix to advance from Group A of the competition after previous wins over Hull City and Brighton and Hove Albion.

But there was real disappointment for Wright and his players given the positive position they had got themselves in to.

“It was a game we were really in control of and, at 3-1, we had ourselves in a position to win it,” he said.

“Their second goal was an important one and individual errors have cost us unfortunately.

“At this level we know we will make mistakes, and it is down to us to work with the players and reflect on the mistakes that have been made and try to make sure we don’t make those errors again.

“We are still in a good position in the group, we have gone toe to toe with Villa tonight, and I felt we were the better team.

“Really we should have won the game, but credit to Villa because they exploited the mistakes we made and capitalised on them.

“I feel for the players, they gave us everything. They were on their knees in the changing room, but when you have a group of players that give you everything you always know you have something to work with and you are not too far away.

“But, as I say, errors cost you in football, and it certainly has in this instance.”

The result marked the development side’s first defeat in a home fixture since a 3-2 loss to Coventry City on November 11 2022.

Wright felt his squad could be proud of their long sequence without defeat, despite the disappointment of seeing it come to an end.

“It has been an incredible run,” he added.

“To go 12 months without losing at home at any level is incredible. It is a record we have been very proud of, we would have liked it to continue for longer still.

“But what we have to do now as a group is take the emotion and disappointment out of it, dust ourselves down and get ourselves ready to improve and try and get these players as close to the first team as we can.

“We had four lads go away with the first team at the weekend, and we want more of that because that is what we are here to do.”