ReactionMatt Beard on LFC Women 2-1 Man City, a brilliant response and 'fox in the box' Dowie
Matt Beard declared himself very satisfied after seeing his Liverpool FC Women side secure a 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Barclays Women’s Super League on Sunday.
The result, produced with a brilliant performance against title-chasing opposition at Prenton Park, mathematically confirmed the Reds’ status in the top flight for next season.
With Reading losing heavily at home to Aston Villa, it means they stay bottom of the table and cannot catch Liverpool’s points tally.
Natasha Dowie broke the deadlock with her 20th strike in the WSL in a red shirt – the first Liverpool player to achieve that feat – and although Lauren Hemp levelled, Missy Bo Kearns fired in the winner.
Read on as Beard reflects on a big result for his team…
On the 2-1 victory…
It was a good win. We knew Manchester City like to play out from the back and we caught them with a similar goal to the one when Katie Stengel scored in our away fixture. I thought the second goal was top drawer. It’s pleasing because we showed the players at half-time the spaces the players could exploit because we were just taking an extra touch or were just too slow to move it. The goal came specifically from that, and they became stretched and it was a great team goal.
We’ve had a long week but I felt the girls dug in fantastically well, putting bodies on the line. We could have been out of sight, to be honest with you, the way we started the second half – the first 20 to 25 minutes of it were as good as we’ve been all season. It’s an important three points and we’ve hit the target we thought we could set. So now we’ve got Aston Villa and Manchester United to play and we want to continue and pick up as many points as possible.
On the character shown by his team after the disappointing display at Leicester City…
The Leicester game is gone and I thought we showed that against Chelsea in midweek. It’s great to have bodies back on the bench as well. Leanne Kiernan should be available for the next game. I said to the players after the game, the players who didn’t play put a shift in on the tactical side of it on Saturday. It’s not just about the players who played, it’s all of them because their input was so important to this win. It’s been a long week. We had a tough start to it but we’ve come out the other side of it in a really good place.
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On the performance by goalkeeper Faye Kirby, who made some vital stops…
What we want to do with players is give them a run of games so we can see where they are. Faye has been fantastic in training and she performed well against Chelsea and again [against Man City]. This is a tough run of games that we have got, so for us to see her in these type of games helps us a lot.
On getting 22 points and now guaranteeing safety in the WSL…
If I look at the way the season has been, I think we could be in a much better position already. If you look at the penalty we should have had away at Brighton, the disallowed goal at Everton and then there’s been other moments where we haven’t quite taken chances. Like I’ve said, this is a tough league. I know our team is hard to play against and we have got a talented squad. I’ve got a great selection headache for the final two games because we don’t play next weekend.
I’ll have Niamh Fahey back fully fit, Leanne as well, and all of a sudden I’ve got options and real good attacking threat. That has been our Achilles heel most of the season – not having that attacking threat. The minute Shanice van de Sanden came on they were three yards deeper and we can exploit those spaces. I just love Shanice. She is brilliant, running here, there and everywhere. She is such an infectious person and I’m really pleased.
On the defensive set-up with Gemma Bonner, Jasmine Matthews and Rhiannon Roberts working well together as a three…
I thought Razza [Roberts] was great against Sam Kerr on Wednesday night and Gemma up against Bunny Shaw was brilliant, a bit like Fahey played against her in the away game. These are world-class players we are up against but defensively I think we have got it right over the last two games and that is really pleasing.
On Dowie netting her 20th goal for the club in the WSL…
Fox in the box! That’s what she brings to the table. I knew when I brought her back to the club that she would score goals for us. Unfortunately, she picked up a hamstring injury but she is now flying and doing well again, so congratulations to Tats.
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