Swansea City 2-2 Portsmouth: Liam Cullen earns Swans point after fightback

Liam Cullen inspired a Swansea fightback after they had been stunned by two first-half goals from Portsmouth before settling for a 2-2 draw at the Swansea.Com Stadium.

Matt Ritchie, with his first goal for Pompey, and Josh Murphy gave the visitors a healthy lead before Cullen provided the cross for Myles Peart-Harris, whose effort was deflected in by Connor Ogilvie, to pull one back on the stroke of half-time.

The Wales international then levelled things up in the 53rd minute with his fifth goal of the season as the Swans swept themselves back into the game.

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For Pompey boss John Mousinho and his side, a three-week wait since their last game finally came to an end at kick-off as they continued their battle to move off the bottom of the table following their promotion last season.

Storm Bert put an end to their game at Blackburn immediately after the international break and then their midweek clash with Millwall was called off due to a floodlight failure. It meant they had not played since their 3-1 home win over Preston on November 9.

Referee Will Finnie wasted no time in asserting his authority by handing out his first yellow card to Pompey centre-back Marlon Pack within 26 seconds of the start.

That gave Swansea an instant free-kick which ultimately ended with Harry Darling heading just over the crossbar. Joe Allen, the only survivor from the last league meeting between the two teams in west Wales in 2010, then had a great chance to open the scoring with a free header at the near post from a Grimes cross.

Having struggled to break down the aggressive and energetic press put on them by the visitors, they then coughed up possession wide out on their right flank and went behind in the 25th minute.

Murphy took the ball away from Josh Key and his cross found Ritchie in the centre of the goal and he scrambled the ball over the line to take the lead.

Murphy then doubled the lead with a great piece of individual skill as he beat Ben Cabango before firing home from an acute angle.

No sooner had the visitors got over their celebrations when Cullen swung in a superb curling cross from the left to the far post, where Peart-Harris put enough pressure on Ogilvie to get the ball over the line for a much-needed home goal on the stroke of half-time.

Swansea started the second half far more aggressively and Peart-Harris hit the bar before he provided a low cross into the box for Cullen to sweep home for the equaliser.

There were chances at both ends in a frantic finish, but neither team was clinical enough in front of goal to find a winner.

The managers

Swansea's Luke Williams:

"I'm annoyed more than frustrated. I'm annoyed because we didn't start the game correctly. 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 hairdryer 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 1,000 times, but I loved the way they came roaring back in the second half."

Portsmouth's John Mousinho:

"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.

"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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