The Welsh midfielder returned from injury to provide two assists in the Liverpool FC Women’s victory over Brighton. The Reds have now moved to fifth in the WSL table.
The Liverpool FC Women were provided a big boost ahead of their match with Brighton on Saturday when Ceri Holland returned from injury to join the starting lineup. The Wales international provided an assist on both of Liverpool’s goals as her side went on to defeat the hosts 2-1. After the match, Holland said that the Liverpool squad came into the match with the goal to leapfrog Brighton in the WSL table to take the fifth spot.
“It was really positive. I think that was what we obviously came here to do today. We knew fifth place was up for grabs and we’ve achieved what we wanted to do.”
Holland said that the first goal she set up from a fantastic ball across to Olivia Smith was something the squad had worked on. The second goal came down to a committed press where Holland intercepted the ball and played it to the waiting Leanne Kiernan in front of the net.
“I really enjoyed the game. It was nice to be back after a little injury. I think the first one, we’ve worked on that with Liv with finding the opposite side, so I was really happy when that one came off. Then it was really nice to set up Leanne and the way we got the press right for the second goal was really positive.”
The first goal came just over a minute into the match. Holland said Liverpool wanted to get out of the gates early to set the tone. They managed to hold on in the second half despite conceding in the 48th minute.
“It’s massive. We always speak about starting the game quickly and to get on the front foot like that so early on was really positive. Then after that I think we really kicked on from there. In the first half I thought we played really good football and in the second half it was hard at times. We had to defend and see out the game and they responded really well at half-time, to be fair to them. But the way we saw out the game was really positive and it’s a fantastic result for us.”
Moving forward, the Reds have little to play for other than pride. Ceri Holland said the squad has an internal goal to keep hold of the fifth spot in the table with three matches left to play.
“We know what we want to do. We’ve got to win as many games as possible. We see all three games as up for grabs for wins so to finish as high up as we can is our aim and it started today. We’ll go on to Tottenham next week and hopefully go and get another three points.”