Ladies buoyed by first-team support
Liverpool's male stars have provided significant backing and support to their female colleagues as the Liverpool Ladies squad prepares to begin the 2013 Women's Super League campaign.
Matt Beard and his team kicked off their season with an impressive 5-0 victory over Aston Villa in the FA Women's Cup last weekend, and get their Continental Cup challenge underway on Saturday at home to their Merseyside neighbours, Everton.
Last Tuesday, the Ladies were handed a boost before the hard work began in earnest as they were invited to the club's training complex, Melwood, to train with the Reds first team and meet the coaching staff.
Beard and co had previously been welcomed onto the Anfield turf during half-time against Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, following a summer of major change throughout the side.
Confidence is high for the Ladies, who have been strengthened by the recent arrivals of Natasha Dowie and Fara Williams from Everton, in addition to the likes of Gemma Bonner, Whitney Engen, Katrin Ómarsdóttir and Nicole Rolser.
"Everyone wants to win as much as they can - games and cups. If we don't achieve big things, of course we'll be disappointed," striker Natasha Dowie said.
"We've got such talented players in this squad from abroad and other English teams. To win the league is the biggest thing because it shows that you're performing consistently week in, week out.
"My sights for the club are high and I'm sure all the other players and staff are as well."
The men and women swapped respective notes throughout the Melwood session before sharing tips and tactics over lunch, on a day which all in attendance considered a productive experience.
Reds goalkeeper Pepe Reina described the meeting as 'brilliant' and likened the progress of women's football in England to his home country, Spain.
"It has been brilliant - the training has been really good. Afterwards we had lunch together and talked about our lives," he said.
"It's pretty much the same [as Spain] - we see many important games in huge stadiums with big attendances. It's quite important. It will be no different for the Liverpool Ladies team. Their project and ambitions have been growing in the last few months, and hopefully the results will get better."
So would the 30-year-old encourage his daughters to pursue a professional career in football? "Of course - if they choose to play, why not? I'll be a very proud dad," Reina added.
"It was an initiative to enhance our one club mentality," reflected first-team boss Brendan Rodgers.
"It's important that the women's section of the club feel very much a part of the club. It's great to put some faces to the names that we already know, and it's great for the guys to integrate.
"My door is always open - it doesn't matter whether you're coach of the men's team, the women's team or the U9s team. The principles are the same and ultimately what we're trying to do is get the best out of players.
"Women's football has been improving every single year. The professionalism in the game has improved - women's football is now taken much more seriously, which it should be. Football isn't just for men only."
Having acquainted themselves with the men over breakfast, the ladies joined Rodgers' team for a series of training drills - and the visitors could not have been more pleased with the help they received.
Lillie Fenlon-Bilson said: "It has been really exciting, it has lifted team spirit.
"It has been interesting to see how they do things a little bit differently, such as the warm-up. There was a bit of banter flying round in the warm-up, it was really good."
And Dowie added: "The lads really got us involved and made an effort with us, which was lovely. It's nice to feel how a professional lives and the facilities are perfect, so we really appreciate it. We feel like part of the squad now."
Becky Easton, a veteran of the women's game, played for the club during the 1990s before re-signing earlier this year - and the England international was highly impressed by the trip to Melwood.
"I've supported Liverpool all my life so to actually be training with the men is amazing, it's like a dream," she said.
"It's important that we do things like this - to open up Melwood to us and let us train with them is something that I've never known in the women's game."
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