Reaction'It was amazing to have Arne's support at the Academy'

Kieran Morrison’s last-gasp free-kick was headed into his own net by Hammers midfielder Lewis Orford and evened the scoring in the Premier League 2 clash, after an Isaac Mabaya own goal had put the away side in front.

With Reds head coach Slot, captain Virgil van Dijk and Sir Kenny Dalglish watching on at the Kirkby Academy, the hosts created some good chances but found West Ham goalkeeper Olanrewaju Awesu in fine form.

Lewtas’ team also had a goal disallowed when Keyrol Figueroa charged down the ’keeper and sent the ball looping over him. It appeared to cross the line, but was not awarded by the officials.

Read on as the U21s boss spoke to Liverpoolfc.com about the draw and why the support from Slot and his staff is always gratefully received…

On the late equaliser against West Ham…

It was frustrating to concede an own goal again, but in fairness to Isaac he didn’t mean to do that and it’s just one of those things. To lose two games on consecutive weekends with own goals would have been tough to take, but we managed to stay in it and get the equaliser.

To be fair, confidence around performance is really high and we are playing some really good stuff, but confidence around scoring goals is a bit low. I thought our set-piece delivery was unbelievable from Kieran and the movement in the box as well, and we got an own goal back. It was deserved for us and I think if we hadn’t got anything out of the game it would have been another hard-luck story because we created some good chances.

On Figueroa’s effort being ruled out by the officials…

In fairness to the fourth official he did say to the referee it looked like it went in, so when you are not scoring that much, like we are at the moment, to have one that crossed the line and not count is disappointing to say the least.

On seeing Slot and the senior staff watching on at the Academy…

It’s amazing. Obviously Arne and the staff have got a crazy schedule competing on all fronts and a final to come, Paris Saint-Germain, trying to win the title, so it was brilliant to see them. We are around them a lot anyway at the AXA Training Centre and they are always very supportive.