Liam Cullen pleased to pick up vital minutes following injury frustration

Liam Cullen was pleased to get more valuable minutes under his belt with his appearance for Swansea City Under-21s as he continues to step up his return from a shoulder injury.

The striker suffered a dislocated shoulder against Queens Park Rangers back in September, and made his return on the bench against Burnley, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute.

He has since featured as a late substitute in wins against Reading and Cardiff.

The 23-year-old made his first start since returning to fitness to help the under-21s  to a fourth consecutive home win against Millwall on Monday, opening the scoring with a cool finish from Cameron Congreve’s pass at Landore.

"It's been quite a while since I started a game since my shoulder injury. I've come back into training and I feel good," said Cullen. 

"The boys are doing so well, so it has been hard to get into the team. But it was nice to come down and get some well needed minutes and get back on the scoresheet.

"It's about building up my match sharpness now, getting back to full fitness and just pushing on for the rest of the season.

"Recovery went really well, Joel [Latibeaudiere] did his shoulder as well, he talked me through it and helped me with a lot of it to get me back to it as quick as possible.  

"I got back quicker than expected, so that's always a positive. 

"It's always great to get on the scoresheet, I feel like you always have the same feeling when you score whether you're in training, in the park or at the Swansea.com Stadium.

"Now, I've just got to keep training and train hard, keeping playing hard when I can and hopefully I can gain some essential minutes with the first team.

"I felt good against Millwall, I needed to get 90 minutes under my belt after time away to build up my sharpness again. I've come off the bench in recent weeks, so hopefully I can build on from there."