InterviewHow Rachael Laws played through pain barrier to help LFC Women clinch fourth

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With Teagan Micah out injured, manager Matt Beard had tried throughout the week to sign another ’keeper on an emergency loan to play against Leicester City at King Power Stadium.

Approaching matchday, however, it was decided that Laws, who had originally been ruled out for the season with a broken finger, could potentially play with a pain-killing injection.

It is that spirit and determination of the whole group that has seen the Reds finish 2023-24 six points ahead of Manchester United to claim fourth spot in the WSL.

Laws played her part on Saturday as a Leanne Kiernan hat-trick and a header from Sophie Roman Haug steered Beard’s charges to a 4-0 win on a memorable final day.

Read on as Laws explains to Liverpoolfc.com why she was so determined to play and help her teammates…

On why she just had to forget the pain and play for the team…

I fractured my finger and tore a ligament two weeks ago. This week we were struggling for a goalkeeper, so I had it numbed for the previous two days. I had it numbed before the warm-up and numbed at half-time, so I couldn’t feel anything. I had a brace on and I got through it. But the girls were fantastic, I didn’t have much to do and that’s credit to them. They looked after me and I owe them one.

On keeping a clean sheet as well…

I’ve actually asked Russ [Fraser, managing director] to double my clean-sheet bonus because I did it with a fractured finger, so let’s see if he does that! But the most important thing was three points and for us to finish fourth and we did that.

On finishing six points ahead of Manchester United…

Look, we have had an amazing season but it means nothing if we don’t go into next season and keep that going. We’ve had three clean sheets from our last four games, which I think is excellent, so that’s credit to Pottsy [Joe Potts, goalkeeping coach] and the goalkeeping group. We’ve got to kick on now and try to push next season as well.

On the fantastic away following at King Power Stadium…

They haven’t stopped singing and that’s what it has been like all season. No matter where we have been up and down the country, they have been there in their numbers and we owed them that, we did. We’ve had some fantastic results but we said let’s go into [Saturday] and give them something to cheer about, and I think we did that.

On Kiernan arriving off the bench to net a hat-trick…

I’m just so happy for her. I know we bring up the injury that she had and it’s a while ago now, but just as a player, as a person, we want Leanne to do well. You could see by the celebration, everybody, how happy we were for her. She deserved that, she was excellent.

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