Cullen a player who 'all the coaches love'

Liam Cullen is used to autographs, though usually he is the one holding the pen.

It was a different story on Tuesday night, when Cullen scored a stoppage-time equaliser in Swansea City's draw with Preston North End and then received a pat on the back from Snoop Dogg.

On Monday, the rap superstar and Swansea co-owner visited the club's training ground, where he printed his own 'Snoop Dogg' jersey with the number 20 on the back.

The following night Snoop Dogg was in the Swansea dressing room come full-time, praising the character shown by Vitor Matos' team – and signing the shirt of Cullen, the club's actual number 20.

It was a special moment for Cullen, the Pembrokeshire-born academy product who joined Swansea as an eight-year-old.

And according to Matos, a point-winning goal on a big occasion was reward for Cullen's commitment to his club's cause.

"I like Liam a lot," Swansea's head coach said. "I have a problem because I like all the players a lot but I can only pick 11.

"But the good thing is that all of them are really professional and really Liam is one of those.

"He loves the club, born here, grew here. He has this mentality, which I love, that is if he's to play five minutes, he will play that five minutes trying to make an impact and trying to make that five minutes the best of his life.

"If it's 10 minutes it's 10. If it's 90, it's 90. That's why all the coaches love him, because he's the kind of player that we all like."

Cullen was Swansea's 12-goal leading scorer last season, when he was used more often in a more advanced role than he has been in this campaign.

These days Cullen, who grew up as a striker, is regarded as an attacking midfield player who is capable of playing up front if required.

Unsurprisingly, given the fierce competition in Swansea's midfield, he has not always had the game-time he might have liked – but he remains an important figure in Matos' squad.

"[When] he's on the bench, we know that he has this mentality to try to change the direction of the game," Matos added.

"He had that as well with me in the Portsmouth game, when he scored as well. In other games he came on and created chances. In this game [against Preston] he created chances and scored.

"It's just a matter of how we can use him. I am really happy because he came on and scored and I think that's good for him especially, because he was wearing the same number as Snoop!"