The Swans European adventure is over for this season after they were beaten 3-1 in the Stadio San Paolo to lose to Napoli by the same score on aggregate.

However, you would definitely argue that the better team over the two legs lost the tie after we gave the hosts a scare on their own patch that never really met the levels of last week's performance but was more than enough to see an almost visible sigh of relief on the faces of those in the Napoli camp come the final whistle.

And for more than 45 minutes it looked as if Jonathan De Guzman's first half equaliser would be enough to send the Swans into the last 16 of the competition as they contained their hosts at the same time as having the best of the chances much to the delight of their travelling support.

Many of that travelling support had not been in the ground by the time Napoli scored their opening goal in the 16th minute of the game. Insigne had lobbed Michel Vorm to give the home side the lead as many of the Swans fans were still entering the ground having been escorted in by the police almost at a pace that you would suggest that showed they wanted us to miss kick off. The reputation of the Napoli fans goes before them and whilst police escorts are the norm for visiting supporters the organisation of it left much to be desired. The game had kicked off by the time the escort arrived at the stadium and with security checks still to be done it did ensure a large percentage missed the opening goal of the tie.

However, it wasn't long before the trip was worthwhile as Bony's flick played in De Guzman and his low shot beat Reina and the Swans had their vital away goal. The 900 of us inside the ground and no doubt thousands watching back at home celebrated a famous goal for the Swans as the 'hostile' atmosphere that we were warned off turned into nothing more than a whimper as the sound of Hymns and Arias rang from the away end.

The goal was certainly turning the game and the Swans were comfortable in possession as they played out the first half that finished exactly as the clock turned to 45 minutes.

The Swans were halfway there knowing that no more goals on the night would see them through. There were loud appeals for a penalty when Dwight Tiendalli went down under challenge in the area but the referee was having none of it as we looked to him to point towards the spot.

The higher number of chances were coming the way of the Swans and I am sure this morning that Wilfried Bony will wake up and wonder what would have happened had his header gone a foot either side of Pepe Reina when he connected with Pablo's cross. A glorious chance it was to give the Swans the lead overall and surely seal the tie but as was so often last week at the Liberty the chance was spurned and the game was still alive.

And with 12 minutes to go the importance of taking your chances was highlighted when Higuan hooked the ball past Vorm to put Napoli back ahead in on the night and in the tie. The Swans pushed hard for an equaliser again and Williams had his header tipped over by Reina as they looked to come from behind once more but as they spread the game the holes at the back were there and with the last kick of the match Napoli got a third to end the Swans adventure.

The match stats will show over the 120 minutes that we had the bulk of possession (56% again in the away leg) and after 8 shots to 1 on target last week it was 12 to 4 in our favour last night according to the BBC but the hosts scored three times from their chances which is the only statistic that ends important I guess.

Overall, we are out of Europe and just the last of the Premier League points to play for but we certainly deserved progression even if we didn't get it and once more there is no disgrace in defeat.

A great experience to play in Europe once more, let's not wait 20 years until we are back again?

Photo: Action Images

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