ReactionGemma Bonner reacts to dramatic Chelsea win: 'It was a special night'
Gemma Bonner hailed a 'special night' for Liverpool FC Women following their thrilling 4-3 victory over Chelsea on Wednesday.
The Reds claimed an impressive three points against the reigning Barclays Women's Super League champions at Prenton Park in a topsy-turvy encounter.
Aggie Beever-Jones put the visitors 1-0 ahead early on, though a second half that ebbed and flowed saw six goals scored, with Bonner – who was making her 150th appearance for Liverpool – producing the dramatic winner in added time.
Sophie Roman Haug first levelled, ahead of Bonner putting the Reds 2-1 in front via Erin Cuthbert's deflection shortly after the hour mark.
Three goals in as many minutes from the 80th minute then followed, as Beever-Jones grabbed her second of the night before substitute Leanne Kiernan put Liverpool ahead again. A Teagan Micah own goal from Catarina Macario's shot then left the game all square.
It was Bonner, though, who had the final say in the second minute of stoppage time, heading in to clinch a memorable win.
"I think coming into the game we knew it was an opportunity for us," Bonner told Sky Sports post-match. "Chelsea are an unbelievable side but I think we've shown we've got the belief within the group.
"It was an exciting game and obviously very end-to-end and not much control from our side.
"But for us to go out and produce that performance, our fans were right behind us and we knew that if we got the chances we could finish them. We're absolutely delighted to get the win. It's a special night."
Read on for the rest of the interview with Bonner…
On making her 150th appearance for Liverpool…
Obviously growing up and being a Liverpool fan and having a first spell at the club that was successful and coming back, I've wanted to try to push myself and get the club back to where we want to be. At a club like Liverpool you're obviously expected to be winning and I just try to be the best I can and try to raise the standards. We're not there yet but it shows we can put on performances like that and it's just now getting that on a consistent basis to make sure we're challenging in the top three.
On the belief in the team to keep going in a frantic game…
We didn't really have much control. It was kind of in spells. But I also think we knew we could expose them on the transition. We've always got the pace up top. I thought Mia [Enderby] was brilliant and Leanne Kiernan too when she came on, working off Sophie. We knew we could exploit them and going forward we're exciting and we can hurt any team.
We spoke a bit at half-time about being more aggressive and putting them on the back foot a bit more, and we got a lot of joy from that. There probably could've been a few more goals at either end but we kept fighting back. Obviously we were aware of what happened when we went behind against [Manchester] City and Chelsea before. We were making sure that didn't happen again. We showed huge character and now we go on to Sunday.
On three goals coming from set-pieces…
We've got quality delivery – whether it's Marie [Höbinger] taking them or Bo [Missy Bo Kearns]. I think with the height that we've got we know it's a huge strength of our team. To be honest, I'm not going to lie, I didn't know where that ball was going on the last one when she put the signal up, but I just tried to put myself in a position to get on the end of it. [It was a] fantastic ball in and we know it's a huge strength of ours. Luckily a few have gone in tonight.
On manager Matt Beard…
What you see is what you get from Matt. He's built a squad over the past few seasons and he first of all makes us hard to beat. Everyone probably looks from the outside and thinks we've overperformed, but I think that's the belief that he instils within us so we can go on and put on performances like that.
On Sunday's fixture with Manchester United…
We want to win every single game we go into. Obviously we're coming off the back of a great result tonight but it's important with another game so soon that we recover well. We're on a run, we're confident and we're back at home as well, so we have to use that to our advantage. Manchester United are a tough side. They've got the FA Cup final as well, so we know it's going to be a challenging game. Any Liverpool versus Man United fixture is always an exciting one. We have to make sure we prepare well, recover well from tonight and then we go again.