By Paul Jones
Luke Williams admitted he gave his players a bit of the hair dryer treatment after seeing them come into the break trailing 2-1 against bottom of the table Portsmouth at the Swansea.Com Stadium, before hitting back for a 2-2 draw.
Matt Ritchie and Josh Murphy had given the visitors a two goal advantage in their first game in three weeks before Myles Peart-Harris harried Connor Ogilivie enough at the far post to force the ball over the line just before the break.
Liam Cullen deserves huge credit for his recent performances in a Swansea City shirt.
Becoming a key man in that number ten role. Since his contract has been sorted, he looks to be getting better with each game.
One of the first names in the eleven now, no doubt about it. pic.twitter.com/l8Q5TQOiqt
— Jordan (@JordanWebber96) December 1, 2024
Swansea then had a Liam Cullen goal in the 53rd minute to level at 2-2 before wasting a number of clear cut chances to take the three points.
“I’m annoyed more than frustrated. I’m annoyed because we didn’t start the game correctly,” said Williams.
“If we’d played well for 90 minutes but we hit the woodwork and the keeper made a save, I’d be frustrated. But I’m annoyed that we gave ourselves a mountain to climb because we didn’t approach the game correctly.
“I wish I knew what was wrong. We were at home, there was a really good buzz around the stadium, the surface was good enough for us to play how we want to play and we had a good mentality and good spirit. So, I don’t understand this one.”
“I loved the way they roared back into the game in the second half. I give a lot of praise to the players for that because they showed the desire to make right what they struggled with in the first 45 minutes.
“They got forward in numbers and made a lot of box entries. But the moral of the story is don’t be two goals down.
“There was a break in play and I gave them some choice words and then they got a bit of the hair dryer treatment at half-time, along with a bit of good cop.
“They will get to watch that on Monday and hear me tell them things I’ve told them a thousand times, but I loved the way they came roaring back in the second half. ”
Having had their game at Blakcburn last weekend washed out by Storm Bert and then their midweek home game against Millwall called off due to floodlight failure, it was a first outing in three weeks for Pompey.
“We came away with a point and we get to go again next week. We were excellent in the first half, frustrated them and scored a couple of goals,” said Pompey boss Josh Mousinho.
“We deserved the lead going into the break, but I was frustrated it was 2-1 rather than 2-0. I was frustrated at the way they got their goal just before the break and it made a big difference going in without a two goal lead – it was a terrible time to concede.
“The second half was a different game. They scored and we struggled to get to grips with the game.”
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Cullen’s dream sequence continued as he took his contribution for club and country in his last four games to four goals and four assists to rescue a point.
Bottom of the table Pompey rocked the Swans with their aggressive pressing and found themselves two goals to the good in the first half.
But that man Cullen was on hand to come to the rescue with a brilliant cross into the box in the second minute of added time at the end of the opening half and Myles Peart-Harris was at the back post to put enough pressure on Connor Ogilvie to force the ball over the line.
Cullen then turned goal scorer eight minutes into the second half as the two men reversed roles.
Peart-Harris crossed low and hard from the right and Cullen swept home his fifth goal of the season to level things up.
