The Reds Score FIVE! - Liverpool v Sunderland Highlights - Subway Women's League Cup 25-26

Well, welcome along to the opening game of the Subway Women's League Cup. This is a Group B game today. A match that could provide a great boost for Liverpool, whose start of the season has not been particularly vintage, and perhaps a chance for a few in this Sunderland squad to impress Mel Ray enough to be part of what has been an exceptional start for Sunderland women's so far this season. We will take a moment for Matt Beard, a manager and a man who will be sorely missed. A man whose legacy is hard to put into words, the trophies he left Liverpool with, the clubs he managed, the outpouring of love and sadness that will have been given since his passing. Women's football in this country, undoubtedly shaped by him, helped to grow by him, and now sits in this new exciting era with a great deal of thanks to him. Matt Beard has left behind an entire sport that comes, for those who play in it or support it, in a far better place than he found it. He leaves a family and friends who loved him greatly, he leaves a sport that he will forever remain a Titan in. Off and racing we go, this opening Group B game. Strong nod from early doors, and Liverpool will be desperate to try and get a hold of this game. It was bought into decent, one headed away well, into the penalty area with Nagano, back into a dangerous area, and already Liverpool lead! It is a beautiful pull-up cross from Nagano. And Liverpool after, well, less than seven minutes, have the lead at the St Helens Stadium. A kiss to the sky as well, Gemma Evans the goalscorer, Fenton. Ball in's an interesting one, but read well by Rafaela Buchrafer. High ball in once more, towards Clarke who nods it down, and this time Demi Lampaume can get a hold of it. They will take heart that they've been able at times to put pressure on, and have done again here, it's Dunbar, big chance for Nia Dunbar, brilliant first touch, excellent second, and it's well saved by Buchrafer low. Fenton though, to play it in. Or the back post, Buchrafer will get to it, it's a decent punch as well. Biotta Olsen, just pops it up and just a little bit set too high for Kapoc. Not convincingly cleared, but good enough for now for Sunderland. She's claimed, Mel Rea, that this is the strongest squad she's had here, and of course she has been in and around the club for almost two decades now. In comes the free kick, towards the edge of the six-yard box, and defended well. Evie Rabjohn getting ahead to it. Here comes another corner here for Liverpool. Edge of the six-yard box, Clark's at it! And it's in the back of the net. 2-0 Liverpool after 21 minutes. And it's two centre-backs who get the goals. It was a pretty simple header. Now here's a move from this right-hand side, and plenty of Liverpool players in the centre. Dealt with first time. Little drop at the shoulder, still going here, Kiernan. Kapoc. Kapoc's ball in across is low, but it's going to drift away. That is exactly as it's expected to be. 76% so far for Liverpool, who come forward once again here. It's a dangerous ball, it's a good save, Lambourne! And it's another good stop as well after that. It may well have been some very, very decent defending to deny Kapoc again. It comes again, that's a very dangerous ball, but Lambourne has timed it well. Collected, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. He'll be very, very content with what he's seen so far, I think. Ball around the corner. And again, it's a lovely through ball, huge chance, Beater Olsen, the touch is heavy. Lambourne actually did very, very well. Another lovely ball through. And now again a chance for Liverpool with a couple of red shirts coming forward. Towards the edge of the area. Nagano's unable to finish it! And instead, it is tapped home. A lovely looping finish from Ritsu Shimizu. She'll be delighted, she had a horrible year last year, picked up a terrible injury in the Olympics. Was able to loop the ball over Demi Lambourne and give Liverpool a three-goal and comprehensive lead going into the second half. There's been a few moments of joy for Sunderland, Nia Dunbar in particular has looked dangerous. But Liverpool are well on their way in this opening game of Group B in the Subway Women's League Cup. Just dealing with it here. Not actually dealing with it, Mia Enderby's done really well. Played back across, oh, it's a bit of a spill from Lambourne and it's blown its way through. And how about that? Tapped home. It was messy from Sunderland. It would have been frustrating for Sunderland as well. Here comes this Liverpool corner. Clarke again and then flicked home. Once more by Sophie Hope. It's a brace for her. It's a fifth for Liverpool. And yet again. And that is it. In what has been such an emotionally turbulent time for Liverpool over the last few days. The players arrived focused. They arrived ready. Always nice to win. Tonight felt like it was about a little bit more than just the result. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's been a real rollercoaster of emotions over the last few days, to be honest. Matt meant a lot to so many people. I was really fond of him. Played with his brother professionally. So, yeah, I think it's really rocked a lot of people. And it's so, so difficult for the group of players today to go out and play so soon after it happened. But I think that performance tonight was very good. It spoke volumes. I said to the girls afterwards that Matt would have been really proud of that. As you say, it's been an incredibly sad week. You had some good battles with Matt on the touchline down the years too. And the game at the weekend being called off perhaps just signifies how much of an impact he had on this football club. How difficult has that been to navigate, both for you and the players this week? Yeah, it's an individual thing, isn't it? I think that everyone feels different. Everyone would have had certain relationships with Matt. As an example, Fiske would have played under him twice, same as Leanne. So it's probably going to affect those guys a little bit more. The more you know someone, the better you know someone, the harder it feels when you lose them. So, yeah, it's been tough, I'm not going to lie. But I think we've been open. We've been honest with each other. We've been open to allowing grief because it can affect you in different ways. And I've just felt an immense feeling of pride throughout this period. I just think that this club is so special. I was at the men's first-team game last night for the minute silence, which was impeccable. Yeah, it puts things in perspective for sure. But it also makes you feel really humbled by the support, the supporters that we have, the support of the club and just the way the girls have reacted has been incredible. Yeah, like I say, I'm really proud of them. The club is really proud of everyone here. We all try and look after each other, support each other really, really well. And that's something that Liverpool does to high, high levels. How are you feeling and how proud are you of the performance this evening? Yeah, massively proud of the team. Obviously, it has been a really tough few days. But as you say, we're happy with the win and happy to get the job done. Just how difficult has it been this week after the weekend's game was called off and obviously the tragic news about Matt Beard, who meant so much to so many people at this football club? Yeah, it's obviously been a massive shock to all of us. As you say, it's been really, really emotional. We're stuck together as a group and it's not going to be easy going forward. But I think to get this game done and do it with such a confident performance has helped everything. And how proud does that make you as captain tonight, to be able to lead the team to such a big victory? A victory that you've contributed to in and amongst all of those circumstances? Yeah, it's obviously a nice moment for me personally to be captain of the team. But honestly, the group that we have, not just the players, the staff as well, everyone, it's such a great group to be a part of. And I think especially given the circumstances, as I say, it's just really emotional for us all. But we're proud of the performance tonight. Mel, thanks for speaking to us. No doubting the effort your players put in tonight, but you've run into a very hungry Liverpool side this evening. Yeah, absolutely. I think it was always going to be a tough game and that's exactly what it was. We've obviously made a lot of changes to our start in XI as well, with the three-game week that we're in. Yeah, we're disappointed that it wasn't more competitive, especially in the first half, and probably more so disappointed with the three set-pieces that we give away because we pride ourselves on our defensive set-pieces. What are some of the things that you'll be hoping to work on heading into another big game at the weekend against Southampton? You've pinpointed set-pieces there. Would it be that in particular? Yeah, I think we've got to take little bits out of the game and reflect so that there's a clear message going into the next fixture. Our principles shouldn't change, regardless of a cup competition to a league competition. I thought in general we defended the box quite well. If you think of where the goals have come from, they've only scored two goals in open play, so there's lots of positives to take from it as well. We can't just think of the negatives.