Josh Thomas | We deserved so much more
Striker Josh Thomas felt Swansea City Under-21s had deserved more than a point from a dominant showing against Cardiff City on Monday evening.
The Swans had led the Professional Development League south Wales derby thanks to Liam Walsh’s header, but second-half goals from Morgan Wigley and Gavin Whyte gave the visitors the lead.
But Thomas - on his return after 10 weeks out through injury - made no mistake when handed the chance to level 10 minutes from time as the spoils were shared.
The Swans forward bagged his eighth goal of the season, having netted his last goal in a dominant 4-0 win against QPR at the Swansea.com Stadium back in November.
“First of all, we were all gutted in the changing room. In the first half they didn’t have an answer to our game," said Thomas.
“We had so many chances, but that’s just football sometimes, they don’t always go into the back of the net.
“Building forward now, we need to take our chances early on and start to punish teams.
“We could have scored four goals in each half with that many chances. We just need to be more clinical in the final third.
“It is a bit different to any other game because it’s a derby. There is a bit more of a buzz around the game, you obviously want the bragging rights in the Welsh derby.
"But we needed to focus on ourselves because I believe we can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league.
"But our play in the final third just needs to get better."
The 20-year-old was glad to be back on the pitch after his injury lay-off, and back among the goals.
“I’m so happy to score, but that’s just my job as a striker," he added.
"I’m probably the worst person to be injured, I’m nagging the physios to come back earlier because I just want to play football.
“At the end of the day, I did score the goal but if the boys didn’t get into the positions that we go into, I wouldn’t have scored.
“The physio staff just worked endlessly to get me back and ready for this game, and this is the game I really wanted to come back for.”