Liverpool boss Matt Beard has insisted his players won't let their heads drop despite this weekend's disappointing defeat to Leicester in the Women's Super League.
The Reds fell behind early on at Prenton Park; Hannah Cain rifling the ball home after a well worked corner routine from the visitors. Leicester almost made it two on the 15 minute mark, with CJ Bott seing her long-range effort acrobatically tipped onto the bar by Rachael Laws.
Liverpool spurned a number of opportunities to restore parity after the break, with substitute Natasha Dowie crashing her headed effort against the bar and Yana Daniels firing over from close range in stoppage time. And the Liverpool boss believes the inability to put chances away has been one of his side's biggest weaknesses this term.
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"It was a frustrating afternoon," Beard said after the game. "We created so much today. We shouldn’t have lost the game but if you don’t take your chances - and that’s been our achilles heel in some games this year - that can happen.
"It’s frustrating because they defended well but we’ve had three or clear cut chances and you’d expect us to convert at least one of them."
He added: "I thought we started the second half well. We made the tactical change to go to a 4-3-3 which gave us a little bit more, especially in the wide areas.
"We can’t keep waiting until half time (to start playing). We worked well all week. We’ve had a great week of training and then you go out and you don’t do it so it’s super frustrating but we’ve just take this one on the chin. I think we could have been playing until tomorrow night and not scored so it’s just one of those days for us in front of goal."
The result means Liverpool stay eighth in the WSL table - five points above Leicester, who remain in the league's sole relegation place. But while Beard was disappointed to emerge from Sunday's clash empty-handed, the Liverpool manager is confident the defeat won't prove decisive in the battle for WSL survival.
"Our heads won’t drop. It’s part and parcel of the game," he said. "You win games and you lose games. It’s the same things we talk about, either consistency or converting clear cut opportunities.
"In numerous games this year we haven’t taken those clear cut opportunities so it’s frustrating but it’s not from a lack of trying. We’ll be fine. We’re on target for where we want to be and there’s still plenty of football to play so we’ve got every confidence we’ll be fine come May. It’s just part and parcel of the journey we’re on."
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