Allen says pre-season performances are more important than wins

Swansea City midfielder Joe Allen says they are shaping up well ahead of the new season despite losing 2-0 to Espanyol's second string on Friday.

They conceded two second-half goals in Paulo Sousa's first defeat as manager.

But Welsh international Allen, 19, said: "It's disappointing not to win a game, especially coming off the back of the FC Twente game [a 3-1 win].

"But the performance was there and I think we are looking quite good and ready for the season."

Ashley Williams' own-goal was followed by Marc Pedraza's second.

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Allen said: "I don't think the result reflected the game, to be fair. I don't think we deserved to win, but a draw would have been a fairer result.

"This time of the season the performance is more important than the result, but it's nice to get the wins under your belt ready for the league.

"We could definitely take a lot of positives out of the game. Despite the result, defensively we looked comfortable.

"Obviously we had a couple of lapses, but there are thing we can work on and at times we kept the ball well - yes there were definitely positives."

Allen says Sousa was philosophical about the outcome, adding: "He told us not to get hung up too much on the result."

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