Topic: Liverpool Women FC (*)

[Reds Flag]

Congrats to the ladies, a what a set of final day results!!

[SquirrelandGman]

Maybe i should just watch the ladies play since i've never seen us win the league

[LFCladiesfans]

Putting today into words is proving difficult, after losing 2 key players pre-season in Lucy Staniforth and Nicole Rolser.. to having no less than 8 first team players out for a number of games and having to plug the gaps with youth players... to even go into the final day of the season with a fighting chance made me feel proud to support this club.

As soon as Fara scored from the spot the atmosphere in the ground changed - we'd done what we had to and then came the agonizing wait for the other results to come in.

Such an unbelievable season and day, the entire team and coaching staff can be proud of their efforts this year.

This is going to take a while to get my head around...

[Durlmints]

Putting today into words is proving difficult, after losing 2 key players pre-season in Lucy Staniforth and Nicole Rolser.. to having no less than 8 first team players out for a number of games and having to plug the gaps with youth players... to even go into the final day of the season with a fighting chance made me feel proud to support this club.

As soon as Fara scored from the spot the atmosphere in the ground changed - we'd done what we had to and then came the agonizing wait for the other results to come in.

Such an unbelievable season and day, the entire team and coaching staff can be proud of their efforts this year.

This is going to take a while to get my head around...

So they're gonna win the Champions League now yeah?

[LFCladiesfans]

Of course! Off to Sweden on Wednesday!

[Crimson_Tank]

A hearty congratulations and a might fine job well done to the LFC Ladies!

[Keith Lard]

Definitely going to start watching more women's football.

Awesome job by our ladies team! Champions again

[Gifted Right Foot]

That's awesome.  Congrats to the ladies and all involved!!!

[jooneyisdagod]

Wonderful job by the ladies ! Congratulations on the win !

[RogerTheRed]

It was an amazing afternoon of true sporting intrigue yesterday. BT Sport did their best to keep up to date on what it all meant.
It seemed as though the girls were celebrating before Brum game had finished but that could be coverage lag.
Great effort and focus. Toni Duggan played a big part as said above.
So happy for them all after the match waiting for the trophy on the bike from Manchester lol.
Real good sporting drama and miraculous set of events.

[ShayGuevara]

Definitely going to start watching more women's football.

Awesome job by our ladies team! Champions again

Gloryhunter 

[kellan]

I would have posted something yesterday but I was too stunned to come up with anything worthy, so I decided to sleep on it instead and give it a go in the morning. Well I've slept now, and it is the morning, but I still can't write anything to adequately sum it all up because I still don't understand what has happened. And I'm not just talking about yesterday's football either. This whole season has been one massive WTF, not just with us but with everybody else as well. So many twists and turns and ironic little 'it had to be her' or 'it had to be them' moments along the way has made it such an incredible journey. Many thanks to RAWK for letting me document it all and to everybody who has followed. I hope to see some of you joining us on the Halton Kop next season.

[stevied]

Fantastic girls well done and to do Chelsea on goal difference makes it even sweeter

[24/7]

Many thanks to RAWK for letting me document it all.....

No no, thank YOU for being generous with your time, your insight, your input. As far as I am concerned you saved this thread by stepping up last season and you have been instrumental in establishing its credibility. I am convinced that you have managed to generate something of a following by regular posters and also I suspect many more lurking readers who value your contribution. I'm sure the team did their part by winning two seasons on the trot but in terms of internet forum sustainability and growth, you are the champion - and now we have Heather too - and a whole bunch of other people as well. It's great! We go again, yes? Cheers

[1892tillforever]

That ending to the season sounds like utter madness. Waiting on TWO other games to finish knowing a goal for your rivals in either snatches your dream away.

I like to bet on women's footy but I am not up to speed with its development in the UK. Is the league growing and flourishing or still trying to find its feet?

Oh and congrats to LFC Ladies, back to back champions  They always say a good team wins it once and a great team wins it twice or more 

[Dingus]

congrats to the Champions! 

[Bobinhood]

What a final day, well in ladys!!

[simbo]

http://youtu.be/QVF_ac6FVu4?list=PLH4hJ2GPUXQVEQgwvHm_1k5Tr5N0e6IpF

Goals and Highlights

[24/7]

Big shout out to the ladies of the Hand Horn Posse up in the stands behind the bench. Alright girls?

  TWAL!

Thanks for that link - loving Beardy's attempt at looking calm and casual - he couldn't resist that two-arms-raised salute to the crowd could he! Look familiar to anyone?

[kellan]

Magnificent Ladies retain title



Liverpool jumped from third to first and retained their Women's Super League title after a 3-0 home victory over Bristol Academy, on a day of remarkable drama around the country in the division.

Matt Beard's side kicked off in Widnes as the outsiders in a three-team battle for the championship with Chelsea Ladies and Birmingham City, requiring a win of their own and both rivals to falter against Manchester City and Notts County respectively.

Incredibly, it unfolded just that way. Natasha Dowie, Lucy Bronze and Fara Williams struck the goals to achieve the Ladies' objective before results filtered in from elsewhere - amid jubilant scenes at the Select Security Stadium - to confirm that Chelsea had lost, Birmingham had drawn and the trophy was staying on Merseyside.

Aware of the necessity for three points, the Ladies were on the front foot from the off, with Katrin Omarsdottir going closest in the opening stages as her close-range header was cleared off the goalline from Gemma Bonner's flick-on.

Williams, a goalscorer in each of the previous two league fixtures, peppered numerous shots at the Bristol goal without success, although news from other grounds provided extra motivation - with Chelsea and Birmingham both falling two goals behind.

The home side in Widnes perhaps should have been ahead on the half-hour as an incisive attack from the left channel brought opportunities for Gemma Davison and Omarsdottir again, only for visiting goalkeeper Mary Earps to thwart both attempts.

Amanda Da Costa had a brief sight of goal from 25 yards out on the right edge of the penalty area but looped her effort high over the Bristol crossbar, while Bronze directed a header unfortunately against the woodwork to leave the score goalless at the break.

Beard's side retained their momentum from the restart and grabbed a reward on 53 minutes when the breakthrough finally arrived. Davison capitalised on a defensive error to tee up Dowie, who calmly controlled and side-footed through a thicket of bodies for 1-0.

And, crucially, they followed it up. Within moments, the Ladies doubled the advantage courtesy of outstanding approach work by Bronze, who drove along the right flank and into Bristol territory and forced the ball home at the near post.

On 70 minutes, the victory was put beyond any doubt by Williams - the midfielder stepped up to take responsibility from the penalty spot after Dowie had been fouled by Bristol captain Jemma Rose and coolly slammed into the bottom corner for a cushioning third.

No more goals were required as attention switched to other scorelines and, following a tense few moments once their own game had ended, it was confirmed: the Ladies were top of the table on goal difference and they could celebrate for a second season running. - ladies.liverpoolfc.com

Liverpool XI: Stout, Frausing Pedersen (Easton), Schroder, Bonner, Bronze, Williams, Omarsdottir, Da Costa, Rolser (Harris), Davison (Longhurst), Dowie. Unused substitutes: Gibbons, Zelem.

[kellan]

Liverpool          3-0          Bristol

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/QVF_ac6FVu4&amp;?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/QVF_ac6FVu4&amp;?fs=1</a>

Man City Birmingham  Arsenal

2-1    2-2 3-1

Chelsea Notts County Everton

highlights     highlights

Final Fixtures:

UWCL - Round of 32 2nd Leg

15/10/14 16/10/14

- -

Bristol Academy Linköpings [SWE]

v v

Raheny [IRE] Liverpool

Links:
Liverpool Ladies - twitter, facebook, youtube
FA WSL - twitter, facebook, youtube
LFCladiesfans - twitter, liverpoolladiesfans.blogspot.co.uk

[24/7]

COOCOO!!! 

[simbo]

Fan’s video as Liverpool Ladies win WSL title in dramatic circumstances
By  YouTube user Craig Lucas

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OI7P98tA3yw?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/OI7P98tA3yw?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

Embed if you know how

[Cohiba]

Been happy all day because of this. Just hope the men hurry up and follow the ladies lead!

[the_red_pill]

Well done Ladies! Well done!
Immensely proud!


From a crumbling unit 3 seasons ago to champions of England in succession.
Now that's the stuff of dreams!

[simbo]

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/video/collections/home-lfc-ladies-wsl-champions#19471

[Jonathan Hall ☆☆☆☆☆☆]

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/video/collections/home-lfc-ladies-wsl-champions#19471

Brilliant.

[LFCladiesfans]

That is an incredible video, sums up Matt Beard brilliantly. Love Dowie - "Have we really won it?!"

[Lady_brandybuck]

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/video/collections/home-lfc-ladies-wsl-champions#19471

Great stuff that

[Gifted Right Foot]

Brilliant 

[kellan]

It was an amazing afternoon of true sporting intrigue yesterday. BT Sport did their best to keep up to date on what it all meant.
It seemed as though the girls were celebrating before Brum game had finished but that could be coverage lag.
Great effort and focus. Toni Duggan played a big part as said above.
So happy for them all after the match waiting for the trophy on the bike from Manchester lol.
Real good sporting drama and miraculous set of events.

Lucy Staniforth was on the BBC's women's football show on Monday night talking about how her afternoon played out. She was injured so was watching from the stands. Her story goes that when we made it 3-0 she was confident enough to leave our game and go to watch the BT coverage instead to see what was happening elsewhere. When fulltime was blown on BT she started cheering, and that cheer spread through the boxes, down to the fans, and out onto the pitch. What nobody realised is she had only been cheering Chelsea's defeat and that she didn't know what was happening at Birmingham

I would like to think for all our sakes, but for Lucy in particular, that Birmingham's game had in fact finished before BT showed it finishing.

[Justanotherfan]

Congratulations to our Champions!
 

[LFCTikiTaka]

How the final day unfolded:

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/o4nmdcReN3k" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/o4nmdcReN3k</a>

[simbo]

Don't know why he apologised, the laws of the game don't state that he has to blow the whistle. He did nothing wrong.

Can you tell us what the rules state?? Cheers.

[24/7]

Can you tell us what the rules state?? Cheers.

Simply put, there are three instances when the whistle should be blown.

To stop play: During active play if the referee blows the whistle it always means STOP, the ball is dead.

To restart play: Always to be blown for the start of the half, at other times only if you have told the player to wait for you to blow it.
To draw attention to yourself during a dead ball situation

If it is obvious that the ball has gone out of play or left the field, there is little point in blowing the whistle. This goes for goals as well. It is only necessary to point to the centre circle after an obvious goal has been scored.

I see nothing to indicate that a whistle HAS to be blown to restart play following a goal. As a general guideline, I was trained to blow the whistle to restart play only after I had blown it to stop play, the above point about an obvious goal notwithstanding. I don't know if the ref blew the whistle for the goal or not - if he had, it might be that some players were waiting for a whistle to be blown again to indicate restart, or they incorrectly assumed that a kick from the centre spot requires the same whistle rule as for the beginning of the game or the 2nd half.

Chris - how did I do?

[simbo]

Simply put, there are three instances when the whistle should be blown.To stop play: During active play if the referee blows the whistle it always means STOP, the ball is dead.

• To restart play: Always to be blown for the start of the half, at other times only if you have told the player to wait for you to blow it.

• To draw attention to yourself during a dead ball situation.

• 
  If it is obvious that the ball has gone out of play or left the field, there is little point in blowing the whistle. This goes for goals as well. It is only necessary to point to the centre circle after an obvious goal has been scored.
  
  I see nothing to indicate that a whistle HAS to be blown to restart play following a goal. As a general guideline, I was trained to blow the whistle to restart play only after I had blown it to stop play, the above point about an obvious goal notwithstanding. I don't know if the ref blew the whistle for the goal or not - if he had, it might be that some players were waiting for a whistle to be blown again to indicate restart, or they incorrectly assumed that a kick from the centre spot requires the same whistle rule as for the beginning of the game or the 2nd half.
  
  Chris - how did I do?

[emoji106] broke it down perfect

[Welshred]

Pretty bang on Jim. Basically you don't see referee's blowing to restart play every time a throw in is taken so why when a goal is scored?

[24/7]

Pretty bang on Jim. Basically you don't see referee's blowing to restart play every time a throw in is taken so why when a goal is scored?

The only guideline I can recall is that both sides have their own players in their own halves with none of the oppo in the centre circle. The positioning of their players outside of those criteria is their issue, not the ref's.

[Welshred]

The only guideline I can recall is that both sides have their own players in their own halves with none of the oppo in the centre circle. The positioning of their players outside of those criteria is their issue, not the ref's.

Yep. As soon as all players are in their own half and not the centre cirlce it's legal to restart play. You don't have to blow your whistle, but it probably is good practice to do so. However you haven't done anything wrong if you don't blow your whistle!

[24/7]

However you haven't done anything wrong if you don't blow your whistle!

Therefore no apology whatsoever necessary. End of debate


(Thus Spaketh Two Qualified Referees Who Happen To Be TWAL Enthusiasts )