by Jamil Salih
SWANSEA City head coach Steve Cooper was again ruing missed chances as his side let a lead slip for the third time in four outings.
Cooper’s Swans took the lead at Barnsley in the 67th minute in scrappy fashion thanks to an Andre Ayew header but just three minutes later they found themselves back to square one when Mowatt equalised for the hosts.
After proceedings, Cooper said: “We felt the last 30 minutes would be for us to go and win the game, so we go 1-0 up having missed a couple of sitters beforehand and then we have conceded at a really poor time.
“So, I guess it leaves you with a feeling of dissatisfaction as we should have gone on and won the game, not drawn it.”
The result means that Swansea are still unbeaten in away games in the Championship but the recurring trend of relinquishing leads is one that Cooper will be looking to eradicate as the Swans look to win promotion back to the Premier League after being relegated in 2018.
Despite Cooper’s disappointment with the way the game ultimately panned out, the Pontypridd man spoke highly of Andre Ayew and how he has applied himself since coming back into the fold.
“You forget with Andre a little bit, he came in late, and even though we put him straight into the team he had to get up to speed with his fitness,” said Cooper.
“He’s said himself, he’s starting to feel a lot stronger. I think that’s showing, not just his goals but in his performances. I thought he was a real threat today, and worthy at least of his goal.”
We wanted 3 point but we got 1 away from home..🙏🏾good to be on the scoresheet again⚽️🙏🏾thanks to the traveling fans 👊🏽👍🏾let’s get ready for tuesday 👊🏽 #jackarmy pic.twitter.com/cqjkWFZ2EP
— André Ayew (@AyewAndre) October 19, 2019
The Swans head coach was also somewhat surprised with how Barnsley set up against his side. Barnsley sit rock bottom of the Sky Bet Championship but were able to cause the visitors problems today with their physicality and directness.
“I know the game went a certain way, obviously Barnsley had some decent chances in the first half and we felt it might be an untidy game with the circumstances here with the change of manager,” said Cooper.
“We planned for them to be something different from what they were. They were a lot more direct than what they have been previously, slowing the game down and using long throws.
“But we had prepared for something like that, and we talked about trying to get on the ball but stay in the game.”
Swansea now look ahead to two huge games at the Liberty Stadium when they firstly play host to Brentford on Tuesday before the South Wales derby against Cardiff City next Sunday, 27th October.
