'Hard-working Woodburn has the required mentality'
Mike Garrity believes Ben Woodburn’s mentality will provide him with the grounding to have a bright future in the game after the 17-year-old gave another glimpse of his potential in helping Liverpool U23s beat Huddersfield Town 6-2 in the Premier League Cup on Sunday.
Positioned on the left side of a front three, the Wales U19 forward netted two stunning goals and provided a brace of assists as the young Reds progressed through to the last 16 of the competition with one group game remaining.
And, after Woodburn’s sparkling display against the Terriers at Curzon Ashton FC, Garrity was quick to praise the attitude and application of his young forward.
“Going forward Ben was electric, he was really good,” Garrity told Liverpoolfc.com.
“His second goal of the game was the highlight for me with the way he took that first touch and then his left-footed shot into the top corner of the net. It was a special goal.
“Ben has got a lovely temperament. He never gets too far ahead of himself and he never gets too low.
“He works really hard, he knows his place and at this moment in time he is doing very, very well. He has got a bright future ahead of him.”
LFCTV GO: Watch the best of the 6-2 win in 90 seconds
Harry Wilson also scored twice to take his tally to 24 goals for the season - and Garrity was equally as satisfied with the display of his captain.
“Harry affects the game in the right way,” he said. “He worked really hard and his quality was good in the final third, and when he picked the ball up in those areas he looked quite dangerous.
“Again it’s nice for him to get a couple of goals and an assist so long may it continue.”
Despite the emphatic manner of his side’s result, Garrity feels there is plenty of room for improvement from Liverpool U23s.
Indeed, the boss revealed there were facets of the performance that will be analysed ahead of their next outing.
He continued: “In the first half we were quite clinical but probably being 4-0 at half-time flattered us if anything.
“We punished them in front of goal and it was nice to see that three of our goals came on the counter-attack.
“We knew in the second half they weren’t going to lie down and we told the boys during the break that they would come out and make a game of it.
“If I’m being ultra-critical I thought we were a bit sloppy for 20 or 25 minutes in the second half and we gave them a couple of goals.
“That is something we have to look at and something we have got to improve on, but on the whole we are pretty pleased at how we did.”
Liverpool U23s return to action next Sunday when they host Derby County in Premier League 2 at the Kirkby Academy. Kick-off is at 1pm GMT and you can watch the game live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO.