Jarred Harvey | The players will learn from FA Youth Cup exit

Coach Jarred Harvey believes Swansea City Under-18s will learn a lot from the disappointment of being denied a place in the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup after defeat to Fulham in their rescheduled fourth-round tie on Wednesday evening.

Callum Osmand secured a hat-trick for the Cottagers, adding a second-half header to a brace of finishes from close range in the first-half, before left-back Jonathon Esenga added a fourth with an unstoppable strike from distance, and substitute Lemar Gordon made it five in the closing stages.

It was a particularly heartbreaking exit for the young Swans, who had been leading 1-0 in the original tie a week earlier before it was abandoned at half-time due to a frozen pitch.

However, there were positives in the returns ofJack Cooper, Seb Dabrowski and Ramon Rees-Siso, with the trio having all been sidelined since August.

"Ultimately, the boys are disappointed to have lost in the way that they did," said Harvey.

"I thought we needed a bit more intensity for the 90 minutes, but in the opening stages we created some great chances and we looked good on the ball.

"It’s these type of games that are learning moments for young players. They're a category one side, and this will be a learning curve for them.

"We've got Charlton coming up this weekend, and we also have an exciting Professional Development League Cup quarter-final coming up in February, which is what we will now be focusing on.

"It was also fantastic to see three players come back from injuries, the staff have done brilliantly to get them back and I thought they did well.

"Overall, we're gutted for the players as they didn't stop working, but the FA Youth Cup always provides our young players with vital experiences in development football, and I hope they can take that away with them and use it to improve as we move forward."