Beard: We love the derby
Matt Beard is hoping Liverpool Ladies can rediscover their best form when they take on Everton in the Continental Cup derby at the Select Security Stadium in Widnes on Thursday night.
Kick-off is at 7.30pm BST and the Ladies are determined to bounce back after Saturday's disappointing 2-1 loss to Notts County in the Women's Super League.
The Continental Cup tie provides a welcome distraction from the WSL, but with a tough trip to Birmingham awaiting on Sunday, Beard looks set to rotate his squad against the Blues.
Despite Everton being in the WSL 2 this season, form often goes out of the window in derby games and the Ladies boss is expecting a tough challenge from the Blues.
"We can't wait for this one," Beard told Liverpoolfc.com.
"We love this games and it's a great opportunity for me to rotate the squad because we have players who need minutes like Katrin Omarsdottir who is getting her sharpness back after injury.
"The derby is a great occasion to be a part of and we will do our best to try and win the game."
Beard has injury doubts surrounding Fara Williams, Asisat Oshoala and Satara Murray, who were all forced off the field against County.
He added: "I will have to see how our injured players are. It was disappointing for us on Saturday but I didn't think we started the game well. We were sloppy and that was something we spoke about at the start, but of course we were 1-0 down in the first five minutes.
"In the second half it looked like we were going through the motions and when we went down to 10 players it was game over."
A positive for the Ladies was new signing Rosie White getting her first goal in a red shirt on her full debut, and Beard insists she will prove to be a good capture for the team.
He added: "Rosie came on last week for her debut at Arsenal and did really well. I thought she played well on Saturday, she is still getting to know the team and getting to know our style of play, but she's my type of player because she works hard, she's disciplined and she's intelligent as well.
"Once we get our key players back fully fit we will be okay. We had a 16-year-old Maz Pacheco playing her first game on Saturday and she did very well so that was pleasing."
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