Coventry City vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
The Coventry Building Society ArenaAttendance25,807.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Coventry City and Swansea City at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Friday | Liam Cullen's free-kick earns stoppage-time point for Swans.
Friday 29 December 2023 23:14, UK
Liam Cullen's stoppage-time free-kick earned managerless Swansea a 2-2 draw at Coventry.
The Swans had earlier been ahead through Liam Walsh's first goal in almost four years, before Haji Wright and Ellis Simms put Coventry 2-1 in front.
Swansea had been thrashed 5-0 by former head coach Russell Martin and Southampton on Boxing Day, but Cullen fired in a last-gasp set-piece to give his side a hard-fought point.
Former Coventry loanee Walsh put Swansea ahead in the seventh minute after he latched onto a poor touch from Jamie Allen and picked out the bottom corner, his first strike since scoring for the Sky Blues in January 2020.
It was just the ninth goal that Coventry had conceded at home this season.
They were ahead for just three minutes before Wright was played in by former Swansea loanee Kasey Palmer.
The American was confronted by Bashir Humphreys, but shifted the ball onto his left foot before arrowing his effort into the far corner beyond Carl Rushworth.
Palmer's powerful effort was then tipped over by Rushworth in the Swansea goal before his free-kick cleared the crossbar.
Swansea had been without a permanent boss since December 4 and interim head coach Alan Sheehan handed a senior debut to 17-year-old Sam Palmer, who almost teed up Yannick Bolasie to put the Swans ahead but he could only lift over the bar with his outstretched right foot from close range.
Walsh also came close to putting Swansea ahead when he forced Brad Collins to palm away his free-kick.
Japan international Tatsuhiro Sakamoto scored a brace in Coventry's 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Boxing Day and saw his effort blocked on the line following a clever corner routine as Coventry looked to get their noses in front.
Simms had been introduced as a substitute and scored his first goal at home for Coventry to put the hosts ahead with 25 minutes remaining.
Callum O'Hare picked out Wright at the back post and his looping header looked goalbound before Simms poked in to net his first goal since September when the former Everton striker netted a brace against QPR at Loftus Road.
Cullen had also been introduced from the bench and stepped up in the third minute of added time to whip his free-kick into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, extending Swansea's unbeaten run against the Sky Blues to 17 matches, dating back to 1981.
Coventry's Mark Robins:
"You don't gain anything until the final whistle, so we've gained a point. The goal was poor, the wall was not set quite right, there was too much of a gap there and he just played it through it.
"We've played pretty well, at times we've had some good moves, created good chances, took some really good chances and then just maybe a little bit more concentration sees us through.
"We didn't have enough control in the game for the last five minutes or so, there were times in the game where we did and we started to get on top and we got our noses in front.
"We conceded the goal early on but the reply was really quick, a really incisive move and a really good finish from Haji.
"The second half was too open but then the changes that I made had an impact.
"We're disappointed that we've conceded that goal. Firstly the free-kick in the first place and then letting them have the gap to hit the corner.
"It was a consequence of the weight of the pressure because we didn't get hold of the ball in the front area which allowed them to keep picking it up and keep coming at us, so that's frustrating.
"They've worked really hard, the third game in a really short space of time and we were a couple of minutes away from three points."
Swansea interim head coach Alan Sheehan:
"We had to hang in there at times but how we finished the last 10-15 minutes I really liked and I think we deserved a point.
"They just kept on fighting and that's the proudest thing I can say about them.
"We wanted a response, a lot of things have gone against us in the last couple of days in terms of the result, sickness running through the camp with a lot of lads up all night sick.
"The manner of the goals conceded is incredibly disappointing but for large amounts of the first half I saw a team that I really like watching.
"We just wanted a reaction, to draw a line under it, show how we get better, can we start building a structure? I thought for large amounts of the first half and as we went into the second you saw a real identity to what we wanted to do today."
