Swansea City manager Alan Curtis: We weren't good enough
10th January
Swans manager Alan Curtis conceded his side were second best and deserved to be knocked out of the FA Cup by League Two side Oxford United.
The Swans fell at the first hurdle in the competition despite Jefferson Montero finishing off a fine move to hand the visitors the lead.
Oxford levelled before the break via a Liam Sercombe penalty, with Kemar Roofe adding two more after the break.
Bafe Gomis struck back for the Swans, but it didn't inspire a comeback as Oxford celebrated a famous win at the Kassam Stadium.
And Curtis, named Swans boss for the remainder of the campaign earlier this week, felt his team didn't perform to the level expected of them.
"Today was hugely disappointing for ourselves," said Curtis, who made ten changes to his starting XI. "The only time we looked like a team was when we went 3-1 down - only then did we start to play but it was too late then.
"All credit must go to Oxford, I thought they were excellent today. They were much more energetic, they passed the ball and were the better side overall.
"We made a lot of changes today with Wednesday's game against Sunderland in mind but we made similar changes over the Christmas period against Palace and produced a battling performance there but we did not repeat that today.
"We fielded players with lots of Premier League and international experience. The team we fielded was good enough but did not produce a result, which is hugely disappointing."
With the FA Cup off the agenda, the Swans now quickly turn their focus to the Barclays Premier League.
Sunderland visit the Liberty on Wednesday before Watford travel to SA1 the following Monday in what are two key games for the Swans.
And Curtis insisted the squad can't let this setback affect their preparations.
"It is disappointing to be out of the cup at this stage because it gave us an excellent opportunity for more players to get game time," added Curtis, who handed right-back Liam Shephard his debut.
"We must now turn our attention to Wednesday's game at home to Sunderland, which is massive for us.
"We won't let this result affect our confidence heading into that game.
"We must look to put the disappointment of the cup defeat behind us, dust ourselves down and move on."