ReactionOlivia Smith on 'big' Brighton win and first St Helens WSL victory
Olivia Smith praised a 'big win' for Liverpool FC Women on Friday night as they overcame Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 at St Helens Stadium.
The Reds secured their first victory on home soil of the Barclays Women's Super League campaign to kick off 2025.
Smith opened the scoring for Matt Beard's side on the night in the first half thanks to an impressive individual effort.
Brighton levelled via Nikita Parris' deflected strike in the second half, but Grace Fisk saw a low drive result in a Jorelyn Carabali own goal eight minutes from time to claim three points for the home team.
Read on for Smith's full reaction to the result as she gave her post-match thoughts to Sky Sports…
On a 'big victory' for Liverpool...
It was a big win for us. I think we definitely need a good start to the [second half of the] season. I think we did well with that.
On her opening goal...
I think I really needed a reset for the second half of the season and getting a goal like that was really important for me and the team.
On using the winter break as a 'reset' for the whole team...
Definitely for the whole team. I think the first half [of the season] didn't go quite as we wanted and now we have a lot of players back in and new players as well. There's a lot of competition too, so I think that's really good for us.
On Brighton's leveller and fighting to find a winner...
I have a lot of faith in my teammates and I think we all trust each other to bring up the energy and I think that's exactly what we did.
On the team having to reset mid-game to grab a goal and earn three points...
I think that's something we're also working on as the second half of the season goes on. I don't think we handled that as well [in the first half of the season], but now that we have the numbers and depth that we do on the bench we're looking pretty good.
On missing head coach Beard in the technical area as he served a touchline ban...
Definitely. It's always hard not having the head coach on the bench but he's still there. We can still hear him!
On celebrating a first WSL win at St Helens...
I definitely think [we will do] a lot of reflecting on things we can do better. But we're just looking forward to the next match now.
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