ReactionMatt Beard on London City Lionesses win, FA Cup and Kearns absence
Matt Beard was pleased by the positives on display for his Liverpool FC Women side as they progressed into the Adobe Women's FA Cup quarter-finals.
The Reds overcame London City Lionesses 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Princes Park Stadium to advance into the last eight of the competition.
Goals from Sophie Roman Haug and Melissa Lawley in either half earned the victory, with Beard able to utilise his squad across the game in what was a dominant showing.
Read on for his post-match reaction with Liverpoolfc.com...
On it being a professional performance from his players...
Pretty much that. I think first and foremost the groundsman deserves a lot of credit because the pitch was better than what we were anticipating, but it was tough conditions with how wet it has been. I thought we started the game excellently. We could have put the game to bed in the first half, we said at half-time when we get that opportunity to finish the game off we need to do it and it was a great strike from Mel [Lawley].
I think both goals were worked really well. If I look at the cross from Jas [Matthews] for Soph [Roman Haug] and then Soph's flick for Mel as well, these are things we've worked on throughout the week. Especially the flick with Soph, at half-time we showed them how much space there was in behind. There were lots of good moments today. Mia [Enderby] has got more minutes, Leanne [Kiernan] has come on and got more minutes and we've managed to rotate the team today to give Paz [Lucy Parry] a start. So, yeah, lots of positives to come from it.
On Roman Haug's early goal in the sixth minute...
If she's in the frame of the goal then nine times out of 10 she scores. Personally she's had a tough few weeks, so I'm really pleased she's got the goal and the assist today.
On Lawley's stunning effort via the underside of the bar...
It's good that both centre-forwards have scored today. I think defensively we were very good as well. When they did cause us problems I think we defended the box well. They were dangerous on set-plays. I was really pleased with how we defended them. It's a good day all round.
On whether his side should've scored more goals in the first half...
We could have been out of sight in the first half. We had two or three really good opportunities to finish the game off but for whatever reason they never came off. Then the longer the game goes on the more belief they get. I thought they pressed us a little bit more rather than what they did in the first half. It was a good performance and a good end to the game.
On reaching the quarter-finals of the Women's FA Cup...
The most important thing is that we are in the hat and then we'll see who we get and we'll go from there. It'd be nice for a home draw.
On Missy Bo Kearns' matchday absence...
She had a bit of a tight quad on Friday in training. We tested her on Saturday so we just weren't going to take the risk. We'll get that assessed and we'll know more early next week.