Reaction'We have to cut out our errors' - Matt Beard on Liverpool 0-3 Chelsea

Two goals in five minutes prior to the interval – from Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten – provided the reigning champions with a lead over the Reds at St Helens Stadium on Sunday.

Beard’s side fought back well after the break but were unable to translate their efforts into a goal, and the visitors embellished the scoreline further through Aggie Beever-Jones in the closing stages.

• Read our match report here

The manager spoke to BBC Sport after the final whistle in St Helens. Read his verdict below…

On what frustrated him on the day and whether there are positives to take…

I think there’s positives to take. We’ve got to cut out the little errors, that’s led to their goals today. There’s plenty of positives we can take. Second half, we pressed them well and caused them a few problems. I thought we started the game brightly as well.The biggest thing is, you don’t get many chances against top, top sides and what you need to do is get your strikes off. I think we had Smithy [Olivia Smith] and Leanne Kiernan in twice in the first half, they tried to cut back in on their right foot when they could have hit it with their left foot. But they are a top, top side and if you give them opportunities like we did, especially the second goal today, then you are going to get punished.

On Chelsea’s third goal in the last minute…

[I felt hard done by because of] what the girls put into the second half. It’s a full-pitch recovery. I just feel it’s harsh on us for the effort we’ve put into the second half. We’ve tried to recover back in but she has got a tap-in obviously on the edge of the six-yard box. It’s frustrating from that point. If I look at both goal one and goal three, they’re scrappy goals for us to concede.

On wanting Liverpool to make more of set-piece situations…

You score one in 18, that’s the league average from free-kicks going into the box. We’ve been looking at something slightly different. If you look at the free-kick where we moved it across and stuck it up to the far post. It’s just making the right decisions in those situations. If you’re looking at Ceri Holland one-v-one, we could have slotted the ball down the side for a one-v-one situation. We just need to make better decisions. The data and the numbers back up not sticking it in the box, to be honest with you. Corners, we’re dangerous from. But we just need to get that right on free-kicks.

On Smith…

She’s fantastic. She’s going to be one of the best, that’s for sure. She’s got everything. She just needs to relax a little bit. But she’s a fantastic talent, she’s causing a lot of teams a lot of problems.