Michael Duff | It's another step in the learning process for us as a group

Head coach Michael Duff felt his Swansea City side had taken another step in their learning process against Oxford United as they continued to build towards the new Championship season.

The Swans suffered a 1-0 defeat at the Kassam Stadium after Marcus Browne struck the only goal of the game in the seventh minute.

The visitors had chances to get on the scoresheet with Ben Cabango and Joel Piroe being denied by Oxford keeper James Beadle, while the Dutchman also planted a header agonisingly wide late on.

Duff felt his side had been guilty of being sloppy at times, but is mindful of the new information his players are being asked to take on board ahead of first season at the helm in SA1.

“There is still, obviously, work that needs to be done,” he said.

“The three chances we gave them during the first half were down to us giving the ball away in poor areas of the pitch.

“The chance they had in the second half was down to us taking a risky throw-in in our own third, so we need to eradicate that and the goal we conceded was down to an error from us.

“I thought they took the information on much better in the second half, in terms of the aggressiveness of our press.

“We spent most of the second half in their half, we did not allow them to play like we did at times in the first half.

“It’s down to learning. We are trying to implement new things. We can be a bit cleaner with the ball, I thought we were sloppy at times in possession, which I hope is not going to be like us as the one thing we can do is pass the ball.

“But this is about minutes, and being asked some questions we had not faced so far in pre-season. That’s good because it is something to work on.”

Duff also revealed that Josh Ginnelly is nearing a return to training following his calf injury, while midfielders Joe Allen and Liam Walsh are a few weeks away from coming back from their own muscle injuries.

“Josh is out on the grass now and working with the physios, he is out of the gym so hopefully he may be a week or two,” added the Swans boss.

“Joe is looking at about three weeks and Walshy is a little bit longer, I think.

“It is frustrating for them, and for us, as we will need to get them back up to speed as they are now a bit behind the curve but we cannot push muscle injuries.

“We have to make sure they spend the right amount of time recovering so they don’t come back and break down.

“We have to remember there is a lot of football to be played, we hope there are going to be 50 to 60 games this season, so we need everyone fit, and those guys are involved in terms of all the information we are giving to the players.”