Testing week will benefit young squad, says Andre Ayew

Andre Ayew believes Steve Cooper’s young guns have shown plenty of character and determination during a testing week.

Swansea City were pegged back by a late Bradley Johnson deflected strike at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, which denied them a victory which would have moved them to within two points of the play-offs.

The Swans had trailed at Ewood Park, only for goals either side of half-time from Rhian Brewster and Ayew – from the penalty spot – to put them within sight of victory.

Freddie Woodman then saved Danny Graham’s penalty, but Johnson’s late effort meant both sides shared the spoils.

For the Swans it was more late heartache after Wednesday night’s 1-0 defeat at Fulham, courtesy of a late header from Aleksandar Mitrovic – who had seen his 92nd-minute penalty saved.

But Ayew, who is among the senior members of Cooper’s squad, believes the experiences will stand the young Swans in good stead for the Championship run-in.

“It’s very disappointing. That’s two games in the space of 72 hours where we’ve conceded in stoppage time,” said the Swans vice-captain, who has 14 goals this term.

“It’s difficult to take because we’ve lost points. But we’ve shown a lot of character and determination along the way. We need to learn quickly. We can’t keep conceding in the last minutes.

“The lads gave everything, especially in the second half. We need to keep going. We’ll make sure we put things right on Saturday.”

Next up for the Swans is another big test as leaders West Brom visit the Liberty on Saturday.

And Ayew revealed the squad is looking forward to tackling the remaining ten games of the campaign as they target a spot in the play-offs.

“The good thing is that we’re now only four points off the play-off places. Obviously, it could have been two, but we have closed the gap,” said the Ghanaian.

“We must try to get three points on Saturday and move closer. We’ll keep fighting until the last day; we’re not going to give up.”