Liam Cullen | Derby goal a dream come true, but there is more to come from us

Liam Cullen fulfilled a lifelong dream by scoring in a south Wales derby last weekend, but the Swansea City striker insists there is more to come from him and Russell Martin’s side.

Cullen, 24, first joined the Swans as an eight-year-old, and has come all the way through the academy ranks to first-team level.

He has netted seven goals in his last 18 appearances, the most recent of which came in that unforgettable 3-2 victory at Cardiff City Stadium.

The forward once again showed his goalscoring instincts by being in the right place at the right time to head home the rebound after Joel Piroe’s effort had come back off keeper and post.

Ben Cabango would go on to score a dramatic last-gasp winner for the Swans but, while the celebrations have been enjoyed by all concerned at Swansea City, Cullen has already started setting his sights further down the line.

“The week has been as good as it could have been really. I think you could see that some of the celebrations carried over a little bit and we enjoyed it as much as we could,” he said.

“But it’s about putting that to bed now and trying to finish as high up as we can in the league.

“That starts with this game against Coventry.

“It was a dream come true to score in a derby. I started coming to watch Swansea from such a young age. I cannot remember how old I was but that first game was against York City at The Vetch.

“We were in League Two, I think it was around 2004. Lee Trundle was playing, Paul O’Connor too.

“I have always hoped from when I was a kid that I would get the chance to play in these games and score in these games against them.

“It’s one of my lifelong dreams that has been ticked off. I hope there are a few more of those to come for me and for the team, because that’s the most important thing.

“We’ve got seven games left and it’s a chance for us to show how good a team we can be.

“We have had a sticky patch which did not help us, but we have a point to prove in terms of how good we can be, in terms of how we do things and how we can hurt teams.

“Personally, it’s the same, I want to play as well as I can. I have eight goals this season so it would be nice to get to double figures.

“As long as the team are winning it does not matter who scores. We want to prove we are a really good team.”

Derby victory capped a memorable couple of weeks for Cullen, who also received his first senior Wales call-up for their Euro qualifiers against Croatia and Latvia.

Now he has his sights on hopefully getting a first cap in his country’s colours.

“I was at home on the Monday night and I had a call saying I was getting called up. It was a bit of a rush to get up to Cardiff, but it was an unbelievable experience and I hope to impress as much as I can to show I belong in that squad and can contribute to that team too.

“The target is to try and be in that setup, I have come all the way through from under-15s and have always had a target of a senior cap.

“The staff were really good with me and they spoke to me at the end of the week and I came away feeling I had done myself no harm. It just makes me want to keep impressing for Swansea and hopefully that call will come."