Swansea's Cullen eyes another moment to treasure

Liam Cullen opened the scoring for Swansea against Cardiff in March, before Jamal Lowe sealed victory late on

Swansea City will include derby debutants this weekend from South Korea, north west Portugal and north east Slovenia.

There may be a new faces from France and Olympiakos, too, while Swansea’s former Chile Under-20 international goalkeeper will get his first taste of a collision with Cardiff City.

And then there will be the homegrown players, for whom a meeting with Cardiff has been the biggest fixture on the calendar ever since their days in Swansea’s academy.

Joe Allen, who originally joined Swansea as a 10-year-old, Ollie Cooper, who first represented the club at under-12 level, and Ben Cabango, who signed at the age of 14, know all about the Cardiff rivalry.

But no player who will be involved in the latest meeting with Cardiff has a longer association with Swansea than Liam Cullen.

The striker from Kilgetty joined Swansea as an eight-year-old. He faced Cardiff on numerous occasions while emerging as a promising goalscorer in the Swans’ youth ranks.

Now aged 25, he will hope to start a senior south Wales derby for the third time on Sunday.

On the two previous occasions when he has been picked from the start against the Bluebirds, Cullen has scored.

“Obviously being a player who loves this club, the game means a lot to me, so it’s very nice to score in it," Cullen said.

Cullen has made five derby appearances to date. His first came as a late substitute in a 3-0 Swansea home win in October 2021.

He featured once more as a substitute in a 2-0 home success the following season, before his first derby start – and first goal – came in a 3-2 victory at the Cardiff City Stadium in April 2023, when Cabango’s late winner sealed Swansea’s second successive league double against the neighbours.

Swansea have won five of the past six south Wales derbies, and lost just two of the past 11

Cullen came off the bench late on for his first taste of defeat against Cardiff last September, but was back in the starting side – and back amongst the goals – as Luke Williams’ team won the most recent derby 2-0 in March.

“I thought the goal I scored away would be my favourite one I have scored,” Cullen said.

“But to score last season at home, in front of the north-east corner [of the Swansea.com Stadium] and then go and win the game… it will be tough to top that feeling.

“But hopefully I can do that on Sunday.”

Though honours were even last season, Swansea have had the better of the derby in recent seasons.

Since 2008-09 – before which the two clubs had spent a decade in different divisions – Swansea have managed 10 league victories to Cardiff’s five. There have been three league draws, plus another Swansea success in the League Cup.

The side from south west Wales are the bookmakers’ favourites once more this weekend, thanks presumably to home advantage and their encouraging victory over Preston North End last Saturday.

Cardiff make the short trip along the motorway without a point on the board so far this season, having lost to Sunderland and Burnley in their first two Championship games.

Cullen, however, feels early-season success – or otherwise - is an irrelevance.

“When we went and won there [at Cardiff] two seasons ago, our form wasn’t good enough,” he pointed out.

“But we managed to go there and get three points. The derby is almost like a one-off. You can’t think about form.”

For Cullen, another derby goal would be another moment treasure, providing of course that it helps deliver a positive result for his team.

It would also strengthen the Wales international’s case when it comes to securing the new long-term contract which was not forthcoming this summer.

Cullen said after scoring against Cardiff in the spring that with his Swansea deal due to expire at the end of the season, he was keen to commit to the club for many years.

But Swansea’s hierarchy opted against the idea of handing Cullen a fresh contract, deciding instead to trigger a one-year extension clause in his previous agreement.

“If you ask any player that comes through the academy at the club they love and support, they would want to play for them for as many years as possible,” Cullen said.

“The club decided to trigger the one year. It’s not something I sulked about or moaned about.

“I just want to get my head down, train hard and play as well as I can. I want to score as many goals as I can and win as many games as we can.”

Sunday would be good a place start, not that Cullen needs to be reminded.