Beard: Seven cup finals can win title

Last Saturday's 3-0 defeat by Arsenal saw Bristol leapfrog the Reds at the head of the Women's Super League with their victory at Everton.

A win for Liverpool, though, in the 7.45pm BST kick-off would see Beard's charges regain their top position on goal difference.

However, the Ladies go into their clash on the back of the Continental Cup semi-final defeat to Lincoln, when they lost on penalties after a gruelling period of extra-time on Wednesday night.

Matt, it's been a tough week so far with two defeats but very contrasting performances...

It's not the week we were anticipating. We knew the Arsenal game was going to be tough. It was pretty even to be perfectly honest as the statistics show possession was 50-50 throughout the game and we had the same number of chances. They took their chances and we didn't, which was the most frustrating thing. We allowed them to play a bit and we didn't get tight enough in the midfield areas and maybe we showed them a little too much respect. It was disappointing but the scoreline probably doesn't reflect the performance from us, but it was a bit of a role reversal from the game at the Emirates when we took our chances and won 4-0.

They are a side that has dominated women's football for years and they had to win the game to stay in the title hunt because you can't afford to lose more than two games in our division. They'd already lost to us and drew with Lincoln so it would have been a tough ask to catch ourselves and Bristol. I just think on the night they got it right and we didn't do what we had set out to do as a group, and we got punished for it.

You suffered heartbreak on Wednesday night when you lost on penalties to Lincoln in the Continental Cup semi-final - how tough was that to take?

To lose on penalties becomes a little bit of a lottery but we dominated the game from the first whistle until the last, which was the disappointing thing. We had enough chances to win the game in 90 minutes and it's something we have got to look at - why we haven't been putting our chances away like we were freely in the first part of the season. The break hasn't helped us because we haven't had many games. You can train as much as you want but it's the games that matter and it's the games where you start to get that understanding. It's frustrating. At the end of the day we haven't progressed in the tournament. We've got to bounce back and we have a very tough game now on Saturday against Bristol.

You made such a great start as well with one of the quickest goals you are likely to see this season, when Natasha Dowie netted in the opening 20 seconds...

I didn't even see it go in to be honest with you as it was such a funny angle she hit it at and I don't know how it went in. We were hoping we could kick on and win the game from then and we had plenty of chances but we found Lincoln goalkeeper Karen Bardsley in good form on the night and she took that into the penalty shoot-out.

Penalties are great when you win but heartbreaking when you lose, aren't they?

What can you do? I mean you've got players who are brave enough to take penalties and sometimes it goes for you and sometimes it goes against you. There's nothing we can do about it and it's gone now and we have seven more cup finals because we will be competing to win this league title, don't worry about that.

What did you say to the players after the game?

We just said we can't change what's happened and we've just got to take it on the chin. We are now focused on Saturday and it is our third game in seven days, so for the first week back we have played a lot of minutes already. It's just making sure now the players are fit and healthy for Saturday.

Are you slightly worried about having to play extra-time on Wednesday or do you think that won't matter come Saturday night?

I would have preferred not to have had the extra-time, especially because we have to travel Bristol as well. The players will be recovered but there is nothing we can do about it and it's part and parcel of women's football. We seem to play a lot of games in quick succession then have a week or two weeks off. There's no real consistency with it and it's quite frustrating at times.

Your loss to Arsenal and Bristol's win at Everton last Sunday took them three points ahead of you at the top. Now this weekend you travel to Bristol - what are your thoughts ahead of probably the biggest game of the season?

It's must-win for us. We can't afford to lose another game if we want to win the league. We can maybe drop some points with a draw but it's important we win and go back on top, then hopefully that can give us a little bit of momentum again and kick-start the season. We need to make sure we challenge Arsenal and Bristol for those top two slots. I'm confident it will come good again for us. It happened in the first part of the season when we started banging in goals for fun so let's hope that Bristol are on the receiving end of that on Saturday.

I know you are close with the Bristol manager Mark Sampson- have you exchanged any good-natured banter ahead of the game?

He came to our game against Arsenal and I saw him when they beat Everton last Sunday. I'm sure we will speak before Saturday as Mark is a great lad and he's done a great job with the squad that's he's built. Each year they have progressed and for us they are maybe a good benchmark in how to do things properly. In saying that I don't think there will be too much friendship on the touchline come Saturday night!

You also play Bristol at home in the final game of the season on September 29 - in the seven games that remain what are you looking for from your team?

To win all seven games. If we want to win the league we have got to win seven games and that puts pressure on Arsenal and Bristol, who have a tough run-in. A lot of Bristol's remaining games are away and they have still got to play Arsenal again. For us, it's in our hands as to what we do and we can completely focus now on the league campaign. My target was to finish in the top two so we can get European football and the first half of the season put us in a good position to do that. We have got seven cup finals and we need maximum points from our remaining games.

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