Quietly they stood within the queue, stretching far past the door of the principle reception at St Helens, to pay their respects to the previous Liverpool supervisor Matt Beard. As soon as inside, a picture of Beard and his trademark smile was displayed on a display above a desk the place purple and white flowers – one bouquet accompanied by a handwritten be aware expressing love from Sunderland – lay subsequent to the books of condolence that have been shortly filling up with messages of affection.
The scene was so sombre, it was, momentarily, troublesome to think about there was a recreation of soccer to look at, however quickly the Liverpool followers have been contained in the stadium for the primary match because the information of Beard's sudden dying on the age of 47.
The attendance was – as anticipated for a League Cup group-stage fixture towards lower-league opposition – on the low aspect however greater than 4,000 shall be on this floor on Sunday when Liverpool host Manchester United within the Ladies's Tremendous League and the tributes to Beard will proceed. Nonetheless, the Wednesday match programmes, devoted to Beard, all quickly bought out.
Among the many crowd have been Beard's brother, Mark, and his mom, Margaret, in addition to a number of gamers from Beard's time in cost, together with the previous England and Liverpool striker Natasha Dowie.
The gamers walked out to an emotional rendition of You'll By no means Stroll Alone, which was sung quietly, just like the mild whisper of a prayer in contrast with the roaring variations often heard at Anfield, however the sound was no much less stirring. The teaching employees of each groups all linked arm-in-arm earlier than a second's silence was noticed impeccably.
And whereas in some ways the result of the sport had scarcely felt much less vital, it was additionally a salient time for Liverpool to safe their first victory of the season – not only for Beard however for themselves, after two defeats from their opening two WSL recreation.
On this emotional night time they outplayed Sunderland for a 5-0 victory, a lot to the delight of their supporters, a few of whom waved a flag bearing the phrases: “Liverpool was made for Matt and Matt was made for Liverpool”.
The house followers sang “Matt Beard's mighty Reds” loudly all through the thirteenth and 14th minutes, in reference to the years 2013 and 2014 when Beard led the membership to back-to-back WSL titles.
By then, they have been already 1-0 up, and fittingly the opening purpose had come from Gemma Evans, a participant Beard signed for Liverpool in 2024 and had additionally performed beneath him at Bristol Metropolis briefly in 2021. She blew a kiss up in the direction of the sky in celebration after she headed house from Fuka Nagano's seventh-minute cross.
From one other header from a defender, this time Jenna Clark, the hosts doubled their lead, and after the sport she mentioned: “It's been a really emotional few days for everybody – we've pulled via as a crew as greatest as we might.”
Risa Shimizu scored the purpose of the night time as she skilfully lobbed the goalkeeper with a volley. Sophie Román Haug, on instead, added two close-range finishes within the second half to finish the rout.
