ReactionMatt Beard on 'positive' Everton draw, St Helens bow and more

The Reds boss saw his squad play out a 0-0 draw with their Merseyside rivals in their first fixture at their new home of St Helens Stadium.

The contest brought to a close Liverpool’s preparations for the upcoming Barclays Women’s Super League campaign, which begins at home on September 22 against Leicester City (2pm BST kick-off).

Read on as Beard discusses the contest with the Blues and more…

• LFC Women close out pre-season in St Helens with Everton draw

On the draw with Everton...

It was just the final third really, wasn't it? We just couldn't get the goal. It was frustrating I think from that side. We've had numerous chances today and one disallowed and I think we should've had a penalty. Mia [Enderby] wouldn't go down there because she obviously cut inside.

But again, there was a lot for us to take from a learning point of view. I thought it was a positive performance. I think we really restricted Everton to set plays. We still need to get better at when to press and when to hold. There's plenty of stuff that we can improve on but I'd much rather us have that type of luck in front of goal today than next week. Maybe two or three of those go in next week [against Leicester].

On Enderby's performance...

You see how many times she got fouled. She's so unpredictable. We see it in training all the time. She's just a nightmare to mark but she's such a great kid. She has a great attitude and she learnt a lot last year making the step up. She's still only young. Not just her but I've got a lot of team selection problems. I've just said it to them there that every single one of them performed well today I thought.

On Sofie Lundgaard's return from injury...

I thought she was excellent when she came on. I thought we lacked that bit of physicality in the midfield area. She came on and got involved. But as I said, I can't fault anyone that came off the bench. I thought Jas Matthews was excellent and Hannah Silcock has been out most of pre-season. I thought she was excellent today when she came on as well.

On a first match at St Helens Stadium...

It's great. When you walk in it's obviously red but the branding as well. I just think the relationship between us and St Helens has started off on a fantastic footing and it's a great stadium for us to play in. We're looking forward to the year here.

On next week's WSL start...

We've still got a few things. As I said before, we're probably a week or two behind where I would want us to be from a physical standpoint with some players.

On having Olivia Smith still to return to his squad...

She said to me today she could've gone on the bench. But that's what I mean, I have some really tough decisions to make but that's what we want and that's what we need because it keeps everyone on their toes and you've got to earn the right to play. As I say, I thought there were some really good performances today and I'm really pleased.