Curtis: ‘Hugely disappointing’ to be out of the cup

Jefferson Montero scored a wonderful backheel in the 23rd minute to open the scoring for the Swans, but Oxford’s Liam Sercombe slotted a controversial penalty on the stroke of halftime to level the scores.

However Oxford deservedly equalised on 45 minutes when Kyle Bartley was adjudged to have fouled Alex MacDonald in the area and Sercombe stepped up to convert the subsequent penalty.

A few minutes later 19-year-old Londoner Ruben Loftus-Cheek, a half-time replacement for Oscar, scored his first goal for the club from Cesar Azpilicueta’s low centre.

The versatile attacker said: “It’s got to be one of my best performances”.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri rested numerous key players who are helping the team make a surprise run at the Premier League title but the stand-ins delivered, threatening to eliminate Spurs for the second straight season. “I just never got the chance at West Brom”, he said. “I believe I showed that today”. I did as much as I could.

“If you have an Academy, then you must bring the young players”.

“This team and club is going to go far”.

Those results mean 15 Premier League sides will be in the draw for the fourth round, although no more than 14 will be taking part.

Promotion is this season’s main aim and, since Oxford do not have an enormous squad, it will be a challenge to continue competing on all fronts.

“We know the ability he has got, and if he does not play at those standards everyone starts to point fingers”.

If the only way is up for Oxford, the clouds are gathering over south Wales with Swansea hovering precariously above the drop zone and now out of the FA Cup.

Swansea manager Alan Curtis, who was this week placed in charge until the end of the season following the dismissal of Garry Monk, gambled by making 10 changes to his starting XI at the Kassam Stadium.

“We made changes but we still had lots of experience, but Oxford thoroughly deserved to beat us”.

“It was hugely disappointing. We pressed as high as we could and I think it unsettled them at times”.

He said: “All credit must go to Oxford, I thought they were excellent”.

“We’re probably used to more possession in the league and obviously we came up against a well-known passing team, but we matched them and got in their faces”.

“I’ve been given a chance to put in a fair amount of games and been able to show what I can actually do”.

His first goal after 49 minutes saw him curl in a gorgeous shot after good approach work from Ryan Taylor.

But Joel Campbell equalised, then two goals in three second-half minutes from substitute Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud ensured Arsenal moved on to the next round. “But we should have started like that”.