Liam Cullen | Scoring important goals for this club is what I love to do
Liam Cullen's aim for 2024 is to keep scoring important goals for Swansea City after he made it two in two with a match-winning finish against West Bromwich Albion on New Year's Day.
The 24-year-old scored the only goal in a 1-0 home victory as the forward swept home from close range after Harry Darling’s knockdown fell to him in the box, following on from his free-kick to secure a point at Coventry City on Friday.
At the other end, the Swans faced some pressure at the end of each half, but a resolute defensive display and some good stops from goalkeeper Carl Rushworth earned them their first clean sheet since November.
And Cullen was delighted to get 2024 off to the ideal start, and is keen to build on the result and his scoring run.
“The goal is a bit of a blur. I can remember Harry going up and winning the flick on, and when the ball is landing around him he’s one of the best in the league at winning the ball in the air so I knew I had a chance of it dropping to me," said the Wales international.
"I just stayed on the move, and I think it’s a strength of my game getting on the knockdowns and thankfully it landed at my foot and I was able to tuck it away, so a positive for me to start the year.
“I’m really pleased. Everyone knows how much I want to play and score goals for this club, so to score important goals like that is really big for me.
“So hopefully that’s the start of something good in 2024 for the team and for me.
"We had gone into the game with the mindset of getting the year off to a winning start.
“It was probably a bit more scrappy than we wanted it to be. We could have been a bit cleaner with the ball, but the conditions didn’t help with that.
“It was really about fighting until the end, and after we got the goal we had to defend the box a little bit and really put in the groundwork.
“I think you could see at the end by everyone’s reaction how proud and happy we were to get the win."
Cullen was also happy to see the Swans make it back-to-back wins on home turf, having beaten Preston in their previous game in SA1, against a West Brom side firmly in the promotion hunt, and who had beaten Leeds in their previous game.
“I think you could see what a good side West Brom are. They play to their strengths. I thought we prepared really well, we knew what they were going to come with and we worked out how to deal with it," he added.
“I thought we did that well in big spells. They had chances, but big credit to Carl in goal, I thought he made some unbelievable saves just like he has all season. Hopefully we can keep defending well and keep more clean sheets now.
“Winning at home is great too. Our home form is something we’ve spoken about. We haven’t been good enough at home and it’s something we wanted to turn around, and winning against Preston in the way we did with the goal at the end, gave us a boost.
“Then after the Boxing Day defeat, we as a squad wanted a reaction. It’s not just one game where you have to show that reaction, it needs to continue. We’ve got a little bit of momentum now.
“There was a challenge from the staff to keep a clean sheet and you could see how much it meant that we did that. Obviously if you get a goal and keep a clean sheet you win the game, so that’s something we need to keep going with, defending the goal and keeping clean sheets."