PURE SWANSEA: ‘A good start, that’s all it is’: Midwinter’s reality check after cup exit

Jack Midwinter says Pure Swansea’s Welsh Cup exit to Trethomas Bluebirds was a grounding reminder that a strong start counts for nothing yet in a Novira Cymru South with no easy games.

The leaders lost 3-2 to their league rivals after Midwinter rotated his side, a decision he said was forced by the loss of the league cup from the calendar.

“This season, the FAW and the league have removed the league cup, so there’s no other opportunities to rotate the squad other than the FAW Cup,” he said. “So we made a few changes, just because we thought it was important to make sure the players had minutes in their legs.

“It’s disappointing that we are out in the first round, but it also gives us a chance to reflect on what’s been a good start, but also a bit of a grounding that it was just a good start, and there’s plenty of good teams in and around us.”

‘All three were avoidable’

The manager was blunt about the goals conceded on the night.

“The frustrating thing about Friday night was we feel the first goal was definitely avoidable. The second goal was a sloppy free kick we gave away on the edge of the box, which allowed them to score directly, and the third is a counter-attack from our corner where we get seven bodies behind the ball but don’t actually put any pressure on it,” he said.

“So we feel like maybe all three were avoidable, but credit to Trethomas, the finishing was excellent on the night and they took those opportunities.

“It is a reminder to everyone at the club, not just the players, that this isn’t an easy league and there aren’t any easy games in this division. We’re still a newly promoted team to Tier 2, we’re still a new group of players. We’ve had a good start, that’s all it is.”

‘We deserve to be where we are’

Even so, Midwinter admitted the season so far had outstripped his own expectations, and put it down to a culture built on collective effort.

“I think it’d be fair to say that we’ve exceeded expectations in terms of where we thought we would be,” he said. “But when you look at what we recruited in the summer and who we kept hold of, it also isn’t a surprise to see us where we are.

“Something that we bang on about at this club is togetherness, doing everything for each other and putting the environment over egos. When you have an environment where people want to work for each other and run for each other, and you add quality and experienced players into that, it does help, and that’s bred the results on the pitch.”

He set the next checkpoint at the season’s halfway mark.

“We were probably ahead of where we thought we were going to be, but we feel like we deserve to be where we are. We’ve worked hard to get in that position, and it’s up to us now to kick on over the next five or six games and really see where we are when we get to the halfway stage in the next six to eight weeks,” he said.

Pure return to league action away to second-placed Aberystwyth Town on Friday night.

Author

Richard Bond

Swansea-based sports journalist.
Twitter: @RichBond00
Email: RichardBond@swanseabaynews.com