Interview'It was emotional' - Gemma Bonner on Brighton win and special presentation

Ahead of Sunday’s fixture, the Reds No.23 received a commemorative shirt in acknowledgement of her recent record-breaking 135th appearance in the WSL era, which was presented to her pitchside by the club’s men’s record appearance holder, Ian Callaghan.

Once the action got under way, Matt Beard’s team delivered a perfect response to the previous weekend’s defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Bonner headed in the opening goal, while Shanice van de Sanden made it 2-0 and Ceri Holland grabbed her first of the season, before Sophie Roman Haug completed the scoring – her first for the club on home turf following her maiden strike at Tottenham Hotspur.

Read on as Bonner reflected with Liverpoolfc.com on an emotional day at Prenton Park…

On an overall superb team display…

It was. We knew coming into the game we needed a reaction after our last result. We were back at home in front of our fans and we scored some really good goals. We knew we were capable of scoring and we are delighted to get the clean sheet and the performance today.

On a perfect way to respond from the loss at Chelsea…

We know we are in a good place as a squad, we’ve got the depth and it’s important we keep everybody ready, and it showed today with the players who came on and had an impact on the game. For us, the league is the most important thing this season and coming into this game Brighton have been in good form and caused a lot of teams problems.

We knew they would be tough to break down but we also knew we would create chances and I think we’ve created in previous games but not necessarily taken them. Today we created lots and it was good to score so many goals.

On meeting Liverpool legend Callaghan and the presentation ahead of kick-off…

It was pretty emotional, to be honest. I felt incredibly grateful that he could come down and present it to me. To have my family here as well, especially my mum because she doesn’t get to many games, so to share the moment with my mum, dad, all my family, it was extremely special and it’s definitely a moment I won’t forget.

On making a nice habit this season of scoring headers from corners…

I mean, when the delivery is as good as that from Marie [Höbinger], we’ve been working on it and I know that if she puts it in the right area then I will do my best to get on the end of it and thankfully I could do that today.

On the importance of the clean sheet…

Defending is your first and foremost, it’s your job to do, keep the ball out the back of your net. I think we rode our luck at times, we knew they had great delivery from the wide areas and from set-pieces they were quite dangerous. We had to defend resolutely but I think we did that and we deserved the three points and the clean sheet.

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On Van de Sanden netting after her emotional week becoming a mum…

Honestly, you could see how happy everyone was for her. To do what she has done this week is incredible and we are all extremely happy. I know we speak about being a family, but I think we are extremely close and for Shanice to want to come back and be available to play in this game for the girls it shows how happy she is here. She has come back, she hasn’t stopped smiling and she has been training unbelievably. She really deserved that goal today.

On Roman Haug getting two assists and netting her first goal on home turf…

Everyone is delighted for Sophie. Obviously there was a lot of pressure on her coming into the club but she showed she never gives up, that’s what happened for Ceri’s goal and we are all delighted that she got on the scoresheet and you could see how much that meant to her as well.

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