U23s previewJack Bearne's form, reaching a cup final and West Ham next up

The 20-year-old has been in fine form in front of goal, netting against the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and again in Monday’s Lancashire FA Senior Cup semi-final against Blackpool.

Bearne played a starring role as Lewtas’ charges produced a superb performance to beat an opposition line-up containing several senior players.

He combined with Max Woltman to notch the opening goal, before efforts from Jarell Quansah and a brilliant strike from Tyler Morton put the young Reds in control.

Bearne was also then involved in the final goal, with his initial attempt saved and Leighton Clarkson putting away the rebound.

“Jack has been scoring goals for us, and in this second part of the season he has certainly been resurgent,” Lewtas told Liverpoolfc.com.

“You know what you are going to get from Jack with his work-rate and his pressing, but he’s been able to convert more chances recently, which is a great attribute to have.

“His attitude and commitment to his own development is first-class and it’s nice to see him being able to bring more parts to his game together.

“Probably Jack’s season has been a bit reminiscent of ourselves. There were lots of good Jack moments in the first half of the season, but second half of the season he has scored goals for us, which is really pleasing and hopefully he can continue that.”

Liverpool U23s are in Premier League 2 action on Sunday afternoon when they host West Ham United at the Kirkby Academy, with kick-off set for 2pm BST.

The Hammers are currently second in the division and chasing league leaders Manchester City at the top of the table.

Lewtas’ squad, though, are in strong form and head into the match on a seven-game unbeaten run.

Read on for our full interview with the U23s boss...

On the 4-1 win over Blackpool in the Lancashire Senior Cup semi-final…

It’s nice that we can not just talk about the performances, but results as well. That has been the big change for us in this second half of the season. We had some hard-lines stories in terms of the results and we wanted to change that and we are on a nice run at the moment. I was really pleased with the boys. We played some good stuff.

It was great to catch up with Critch [Neil Critchley] and Mike Garrity. They have got bigger fish to fry in the Championship, but they brought a few senior players with them, which was great for us to play against. I thought we attacked the game really well and it was great to see the pair of them again.

On Morton netting his first goal of the season against Blackpool…

It was a great goal and it’s probably quite strange for Tyler that was his first goal. But he’s had such a promising season with making his first-team debut and starting in the Premier League and Champions League. He played a bit more advanced for us against Blackpool as a No.8, he’s a lovely striker of a ball and he is hard on himself about wanting to score more goals, but a great goal from him.

On the instrumental displays of Clarkson…

Leighton has certainly allowed us to have more control of games at times. When he was out on loan in the first half of the season that’s when maybe we just struggled at times in making the extra pass and keeping more control. Leighton has given us that more control, so he’s come back and helped the group and certainly is in a lovely bit of form as well.

On Quansah getting on the scoresheet…

I’ll give Ray Shearwood credit for our corner that led to Jarell scoring from the set-piece. We attacked that front post really well, it was a cracking header and he was unlucky not to score again as well. I was really pleased with Jarell and he played really well alongside Rhys Williams at the back.

On Sunday’s Premier League 2 meeting with West Ham…

We’ve said we want to try to finish this season as strong as we can. West Ham away earlier in the season was one of the performances that we didn’t like from us. We didn’t get to the levels we needed to get to that day. West Ham are a good team and they have had a really good season in Premier League 2, but we will certainly be ready for it and more performances like Monday against Blackpool will certainly help us.