ReactionMatt Beard verdict: 'We have to review and try to put things right'
Matt Beard offered his assessment of a ‘frustrating’ afternoon as his Liverpool FC Women side drew 1-1 at home to Crystal Palace.
The Reds fell behind 14 minutes into Sunday’s Barclays Women’s Super League clash as Katie Stengel converted from close range.
Beard’s charges drew level at St Helens Stadium thanks to Cornelia Kapocs’ emphatic finish before half-time and later struck the post via Olivia Smith.
It means Liverpool have won one, drawn three and lost one in the WSL this term as the campaign now pauses for international fixtures.
Read Beard’s post-match reaction with Liverpoolfc.com below…
On his overall assessment of the afternoon…
Disappointed. I feel Palace wanted it more, we were lucky to get a point to be blunt and honest. I think Palace deserved to take all three. I just said to the team after the game, we were pulling out of tackles. I can forgive misplaced passes, I can forgive mistakes but what I can’t forgive is obviously the work-rate and that’s something that if you’re going to win any football match, you’ve got to have that in abundance and we just didn’t have that today. We just weren’t brave enough and I think we were lucky in the end.
On a chance to work on things during the international break now…
I think we’ve had good chances today, obviously Smithy hitting the post and Kappy’s was a great finish. The international break has come at the right time. I thought Fisky [Grace Fisk] made a difference when she came on. But I think we’ve only got five players [not on international duty] so it’s difficult. We just want the players to come back fit and healthy and obviously we can address this when we’re back from international duty.
On Fisk and Ceri Holland making their returns after injuries…
Yeah, we have been hit hard with the injuries that we’ve had this year. That’s frustrating. But it’s great that we were able to make those changes. I thought Leanne [Kiernan] had a good impact when she came on. As much as it’s a frustrating afternoon and we were lucky to get a point today, there’s still positives to take from obviously personnel coming back in.
On where he thinks the team are at after the opening stage of the season…
No [we’re not pleased]. We’ve drawn games that we should have won and obviously we have picked up one or two injuries along the way. So it has been frustrating. We just need to review the first part of the season and then, as we always do, we’ll try to put things right.
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