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Swansea City boss Luke Williams has hit back at suggestions he didn’t take Sunday’s FA Cup third round tie with Southampton seriously.
The Swans boss insisted he picked the strongest team possible in the 3-0 defeat at St Mary’s, despite making four changes to his line-up, including handing back-up goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin his first start for the club.
The veteran goalkeeper endured a difficult debut behind a back four containing a makeshift centre-back pairing of Cyrus Christie and Kyle Naughton, a move Williams says was made out of necessity.
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Indeed, he says both Harry Darling and Ben Cabango are now doubts for the upcoming South Wales Derby with Cardiff City this weekend.
“Harry Darling has been here trying to get ready for the game, he travelled on the coach for four hours,” Williams told the BBC.
“He’s a doubt for the derby because he is injured. I was trying to get him ready for this game.
“We did everything to get Harry Darling fit. Ben Cabango is still having treatment.
“I resent any suggestion I wasn’t taking the game seriously.”
“It was disappointing because we were very sloppy and against talented opposition you get punished,” he added when quizzed on the game itself.
“They were too much for us. We came up against a better team and we were outclassed.
“Does it show the difference between Premier League and Championship? That team can’t win a game in the Premier League. They were an incredible team in the Championship.
“We wanted to be more competitive than we were. But if we were able to come here and batter Southampton we’d be in the Premier League ourselves.”