Beard urges Reds to ease derby pain with win at West Ham

Matt Beard is determined to get Liverpool back on track at West Ham on Sunday. 

Having won their opening two games of the Women's Super League campaign, the Reds were beaten 1-0 by Merseyside rivals Everton last weekend. 

That defeat at Anfield was particularly frustrating for Beard as he believed Grace Fisk was fouled in the build-up to the corner that led to Megan Finnigan's winner, while the hosts also had Missy Bo Kearns' goal ruled out. 

But the Liverpool boss is confident of picking up a positive result against the Hammers. 

Speaking to the club's official website, he said: "On Sunday, we get a chance to try to put things right again when we head to West Ham.

"We want to go into the international break with a positive result. 

"We've had a great start to the season points-wise. I think if we could get seven or nine points from our first four games, we would snap your hand off.

"As I've said all along, we have to be realistic as to where we are on this journey. 

"We made a lot of changes in the summer and also made changes in January, so we know we're going to get moments like we did last Sunday — but that's part and parcel of this learning process.

"I've been so impressed with how the team has gelled, how they've started and taken things on board, so it's only going to get better."

Although West Ham have picked up just three points from their opening three games, Beard believes they will only improve under new boss Rehanne Skinner.

He added: "They changed their management team during the summer. Rehanne's a very good, methodical coach in the sense of her teams are always organised and they have an identity and a certain way of playing.

"West Ham's going to be a tough game but we're looking forward to it. As always, we'll be setting up to try to win the game, so fingers crossed we can do that."