LONDON: Nathan Dyer this morning defended the astonishing tantrum which threatened to take the gloss off Swansea’s League Cup glory at Wembley when they thrashed Bradford 5-0, reported The Sun.

The winger, who had scored twice, threw a strop and was restrained by teammates when he was not allowed to take a second half penalty.

Dyer (pic) said: “I hadn’t scored for a while, so to get two goals was brilliant. But I obviously wanted the hat-trick with the penalty.

“To score a hattrick in a cup final at Wembley would have been an historical moment.

"So I thought I should have got the ball. But it wasn’t meant to be and I passed it on. That was just the way it went.”

Dutch midfielder Jonathan de Guzman insisted on taking the penalty, even though the Swans were already 3-0 up and Bradford goalkeeper Matt Duke had been sent off in the incident which led to the penalty.

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup said: “We have gone 36 games without a penalty and I was thinking we might go the whole season without one - so it had not come up before.

“I forgot to say who should take a penalty, so that was my fault. But Nathan wasn’t too upset after the game.

“During the week he had an incredible miss in training.

“I told him he should change his boots, put the left foot on the right and the right one on the left. Maybe he did that because he scored with both feet today - and he should be very happy abut that.”

Dyer would have become the first player to score a hattrick in a League Cup final.

But he had cooled down sufficiently to promise a big celebration after Swansea had collected the first major trophy in their 101-year history.

“Swansea have come so far as a club and a city," he said.

“For us to win this big cup final is massive for us.

“The players worked so hard all week and it’s a great day. We’ll celebrate with a lot of drinks.”

The Premier League outfit’s winning margin was the biggest in the 53-year history of the League Cup - eclipsing Manchester United’s 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic in 2006.

- mD