Vitor Matos | We showed great mentality, and the subs made a big impact

Head coach Vitor Matos praised the mentality of his Swansea City side after Liam Cullen’s late goal saw them beat Portsmouth and claim back-to-back victories.

Wales international Cullen whipped home a superb strike from Malick Yalcouye’s lay-off with 13 minutes remaining, firing high into the net to beat Nicolas Schmid and reward a gritty performance.

The Swans had earlier seen Melker Widell, Jisung Eom and Ronald have chances to break the deadlock, while Lawrence Vigouroux made a couple of important saves from Josh Murphy as the home side claimed a second clean sheet in a row.

Matos was quick to make clear there is still an awful lot of work to be done over the weeks and months ahead, but he was pleased with the hunger and desire his side showed to secure an important three points.

“It’s been a good few days for us,” said the Portuguese.

“The big thing we can take from this game is the effort and desire of the players. Their willingness to improve was something that was visible on the pitch.

“It was a hard game, we knew it would not be a perfect game but that with the right mentality, the right concentration, the right understanding of how the game would go, that we could be this kind of team.

“A lot of things made an impact in the game. The subs made a great impact, Liam scored an unbelievable goal so we need to keep this mentality, understand we can hurt the opposing teams in different ways.

“We need to improve our game quality, but we are really happy with the win and with the clean sheet, and the effort we put in.

“We know need to make sure we keep improving.”

Matos also had words of praise for Cullen, and made a point of celebrating the victory with the 26-year-old in front of the East Stand.

“He is a boy from this club, so for him it means a lot,” he said.

“Having players like this means we can have this connection and when we start having this feeling that we are 12 on the pitch then that will be massive.”