Swansea leave it late as Preston threaten to spoil Snoop Dogg party

Phil Blanche, PA

Liam Cullen rescued Swansea with a stoppage-time equaliser as their Snoop Dogg party ended in a 1-1 Sky Bet Championship draw with Preston.

Daniel Jebbison ended an 11-game scoring drought in the first half to give Preston a deserved lead.

But Liam Cullen headed home in the fifth and final minute of added time for Swansea’s co-owner Snoop Dogg, the American rapper, to celebrate right at the death.

Preston are five points off the final play-off places, while Swansea are three points further back after extending their unbeaten home run to nine games.

There was an extraordinary start to the evening as Snoop Dogg was greeted with twirling towels – a staple action for supporters in American sports – and a guard of honour during a seven-minute lap of honour.

The musician became a minority owner of the Welsh club – whose board also includes American television host Martha Stewart and Croatia international Luka Modric – in July and his first visit to Swansea attracted a record crowd to a stadium opened in 2005.

Snoop Dogg had barely taken his seat before Swansea almost fell a goal behind.

Lawrence Vigouroux tried to stop Cameron Burgess’ stray back-pass going for a corner but, in doing so, the Swansea goalkeeper presented Jebbison with an opportunity to find an empty net.

Jebbison took control of the ball from a tight angle, but his touch was heavy and Burgess got back to clear and prevent red faces all round.

Preston had won only one of their previous seven league matches to fall off the play-off pace, but Swansea were struggling to match their aggression and intensity.

Callum Lang and Lewis Gibson saw efforts fly wide before the visitors took a deserved 26th-minute lead.

Lewis Dobbin spread the ball to marauding wing-back Andrija Vukcevic and his cross found Lang at the back post.

Lang, possibly just offside, beat Josh Tymon to the ball and directed it towards Jebbison who made no mistake in front of the Swansea goal.

Odel Offiah came close to doubling Preston’s lead from Dobbin’s cute flick, while Swansea’s first half was made up of nearly moments.

Their best chance came in stoppage time when Ben Cabango headed over an Eom Ji-sung free-kick, but Swansea boss Vitor Matos was concerned enough to make a triple substitution at half-time.

Josh Key, Malick Yalcouye and Gustavo Nunes were sent on and there was more snap to Swansea after the restart.

It almost brought an equaliser as Zan Vipotnik, the Championship’s 16-goal top scorer but hitherto anonymous, slipped through Yalcouye on goal but former Swansea goalkeeper David Cornell was out quickly to smother.

Burgess planted a free header wide but with seconds left – and Snoop Dogg having vacated his seat in the directors’ box – Cullen got his head to a Nunes corner to spark wild celebrations.

Extraordinary scenes as Snoop Dogg welcomed in style to Swansea