LIVERPOOL MANAGER MATT Beard has hailed Republic of Ireland international Leanne Kiernan as she enjoys a rich vein of goal-scoring form.
Kiernan, 22, continued her sparkling club form yesterday, on the double as the Reds recorded a 2-0 win over Lewes FC in the FA Women’s Championship.
The Cavan native opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a close-range finish, before doubling her side’s lead with a stunning strike into the top corner on the turn shortly before half time.
In all, she really caught the eye once again, as she brought her tally to six goals in her last four games for Liverpool, and was unlucky to be denied a hat-trick.
“Leanne has a great personality,” Beard, Kiernan’s former manager at West Ham, where she moved from during the summer, told Liverpoolfc.com post-match.
“She works so hard for the team and has been working so hard on her finishing in training, and she’s getting the rewards for it.
Advertisement
“You look at her second goal and it was a calm and clever finish – I’ve actually seen her do that before for me. But I’m just glad she’s getting goals and she fully deserved them today.”
The victory leaves Beard’s side in second place, two points off leaders Durham, as they stretched their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
“It was another good win for us, a clean sheet as well and we could have won it by a lot more,” he said.
“But you could see at the end we were starting to tire as we’ve had 12 players away on international duty and apart from two of them, the others played two lots of 90 minutes.
“So, the most important thing was the three points and keeping up the pressure on Durham.”
Kiernan was one of the 12 away on international duty, appearing as a second-ha;f substitute for Vera Pauw’s side as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Sweden in their opening World Cup qualifier against Sweden, before travelling with the squad for the massive 2-1 win over Finland in Helsinki.
Club captain Niamh Fahey was another; pivotal as she played both games for the Girls In Green. Megan Campbell is the third Irish player in the Liverpool squad, currently on the road back from an ankle set-back.
“Brilliant to have the girls there,” as Galway native Fahey told The42 last week.
“It’s such a good thing for the team and also for Ireland, to have that Liverpool connection. Megan now hopefully will be back from her injury and she can hopefully get a good run injury-free, and Leanne is flying.
“It’s great to see her flying, it’s great to see her buzzing and scoring goals.”
Squad rotation is expected now as Liverpool turn their attention to Wednesday night’s trip to Sheffield United in the group stages of the Continental League Cup.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
'I'm just glad she's getting goals. She works so hard for the team'
LIVERPOOL MANAGER MATT Beard has hailed Republic of Ireland international Leanne Kiernan as she enjoys a rich vein of goal-scoring form.
Kiernan, 22, continued her sparkling club form yesterday, on the double as the Reds recorded a 2-0 win over Lewes FC in the FA Women’s Championship.
The Cavan native opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a close-range finish, before doubling her side’s lead with a stunning strike into the top corner on the turn shortly before half time.
In all, she really caught the eye once again, as she brought her tally to six goals in her last four games for Liverpool, and was unlucky to be denied a hat-trick.
“Leanne has a great personality,” Beard, Kiernan’s former manager at West Ham, where she moved from during the summer, told Liverpoolfc.com post-match.
“She works so hard for the team and has been working so hard on her finishing in training, and she’s getting the rewards for it.
“You look at her second goal and it was a calm and clever finish – I’ve actually seen her do that before for me. But I’m just glad she’s getting goals and she fully deserved them today.”
The victory leaves Beard’s side in second place, two points off leaders Durham, as they stretched their unbeaten run to seven games in all competitions.
“It was another good win for us, a clean sheet as well and we could have won it by a lot more,” he said.
“But you could see at the end we were starting to tire as we’ve had 12 players away on international duty and apart from two of them, the others played two lots of 90 minutes.
“So, the most important thing was the three points and keeping up the pressure on Durham.”
Kiernan was one of the 12 away on international duty, appearing as a second-ha;f substitute for Vera Pauw’s side as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Sweden in their opening World Cup qualifier against Sweden, before travelling with the squad for the massive 2-1 win over Finland in Helsinki.
Club captain Niamh Fahey was another; pivotal as she played both games for the Girls In Green. Megan Campbell is the third Irish player in the Liverpool squad, currently on the road back from an ankle set-back.
“Brilliant to have the girls there,” as Galway native Fahey told The42 last week.
“It’s such a good thing for the team and also for Ireland, to have that Liverpool connection. Megan now hopefully will be back from her injury and she can hopefully get a good run injury-free, and Leanne is flying.
“It’s great to see her flying, it’s great to see her buzzing and scoring goals.”
Squad rotation is expected now as Liverpool turn their attention to Wednesday night’s trip to Sheffield United in the group stages of the Continental League Cup.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
leanne kiernan Liverpool matt beard on fire Reaction