Reaction'Really proud' - Matt Beard's praise after Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Matt Beard explained why he was especially proud of Liverpool FC Women’s battling performance as they beat Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Reds snapped a run of four consecutive Barclays Women’s Super League losses on Friday night, seeing off the Seagulls 2-1 at St Helens Stadium.
Olivia Smith’s brilliant opener in the first half was cancelled out by Nikita Parris’ deflected effort after the break, but Grace Fisk forced an own goal off Jorelyn Carabali to win it eight minutes from the end.
Post-match, Beard gave his assessment of the evening’s work to Sky Sports. Read his interview below…
On a ‘huge’ win for Liverpool on the night…
Yeah, it was important. We’ve had, as I’ve said before, a tough first half of the season. I think we deserved [to win] the game on merit tonight. A little bit of before in that we’ve had some really good chances where we could have finished the game off and we didn’t. Then we concede a frustrating goal. But I’m really proud of the girls.
I said to them before the game, as much as it has been a rough first 10 games, they have never downed tools at all. They have always worked hard. They have always come in and wanted to improve. As much as the position that we’re in isn’t a good position, I’ve been proud of what we’ve put in. And I think we saw a little bit of the old, last-season Liverpool tonight. If you look at the changes we made from the bench, it helped us in the game massively. So, really, really proud of the performance.
On the fortune involved in Brighton’s equaliser just after the Reds were close to a second goal…
Yeah, but I guess our winner had a bit of fortune as well. But like I said before, we had other opportunities to put the game to bed. That’s the game of football isn’t it? We’ve conceded to a deflection and we’ve won the game on an own goal. I think we deserved the three points tonight and it’s a big step in the right direction for us.
On the game having a bit of ‘needle’ and if he likes that…
You need it. At the end of the day, if you’re not going to be committed and put your bodies on the line then you’re not going to win football matches. If you look at the best teams in the world, it’s that work-rate, it’s that desire, it’s the will to get on the end of a cross or to block a shot. That’s what wins football matches. We haven’t not had that, we’ve just been unlucky with injuries and having to make loads of changes. Tonight was consistent. I thought Sam Kerr had a fantastic debut, Smithy terrified them, probably [Poppy] Pattinson is lucky to be on the pitch, in my opinion, from watching it from up there [in the stands due to a touchline suspension]. Really, really pleased. We needed a league win here [at St Helens] as well. It sends the fans home happy tonight and we can enjoy a weekend off.
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