Steve Cooper | We showed our maturity, we played like men

Steve Cooper felt Swansea City young players had shown their maturity and ”played like men” in their 2-1 victory over Millwall at the Liberty Stadium.

Jake Bidwell and Ben Cabango got the goals for the Swans, either side of Tom Bradshaw’s equaliser for the Lions as the hosts ended the visitors’ unbeaten start to the season while extending their own.

Having restored their lead with 22 minutes to go, Swansea had to defend well during the closing stages as Millwall looked to utilise the height of Matt Smith and Jon Dadi Bodvarsson in the area.

But they did not shrink from the task at hand, with debutant Steven Benda making a late save to keep out Jake Cooper’s header.

And Cooper was pleased to see a side containing just one player aged 30 or over, claim a valuable three points against a team who were among their play-off rivals last term.

“We play hard and we play fair, there are a lot of young players in the team and you want them to stand up and be counted,” said Cooper.

“If you don’t do that against a team like Millwall then they will walk all over you. The fact that they didn’t do that today is great credit to our boys, we played like men today.  

“I think that we did come of age today, I said to the lads before the game that these are the games where, if we are serious about what we are doing, we have got to make sure that we first stand up and be counted.

“We have to try and impose our game. We know we’re at home, we know what the Championship brings, and how to win games.

“Today we did, and if means this is part of the evolution of these boys growing up a little bit then great. 

“I think they did come of age a little bit today, but we need to keep going now.”