Special memories for Courtney
It is a fixture which will forever hold special meaning for Courtney Baker-Richardson.
With the Swans heading to QPR this weekend, the memories come flooding back for the striker on what proved a red-letter day earlier in the campaign.
Back in September, Baker-Richardson scored his first professional goal as the Swans saw off the Hoops in convincing fashion at the Liberty.
After rejections from non-league clubs following his release from Coventry City in 2014, scoring in the Championship seemed a pipe dream when he was given an opportunity at Leamington FC in the Southern Football Premier while coaching part-time at a local primary school.
But his big moment came in a month which had seen him sent off on his Swans league debut after just five minutes of the 2-1 win at Millwall.
It was a moment he will forever cherish as he fired home Oli McBurnie’s knockdown after 15 minutes.
“I’ve had to work very hard and deal with a lot of rejections to get this far, so my first professional goal is something I’ll never forget,” said the 23-year-old, who has scored three times in 19 appearances this season.
“I was very grateful to have been given another chance by the manager because I thought I had blown it after getting sent off so early on my league debut for the club against Millwall.
“But he was brilliant with me – as were the staff and my team-mates – and I managed to repay him with an early goal.
“The roar of the crowd when the ball hit the net and the emotions I felt is something I will never justify in explaining through words. I was used to playing in front of a few hundred people, but I scored in front of 20,000 at the Liberty - to this day, it’s the happiest day of my life.
“I got a goal that day, we won and we got a clean sheet, so it was a perfect day.
“I think I’ll always look at a Swansea City v QPR game with huge fondness for the rest of my life because of what it meant to me to score my first pro goal.
“Hopefully I can get a chance to score against QPR on Saturday - I’ve been working hard in training and I’ll be ready whenever the manager needs me.”
