Liverpool striker ends two-year goal drought as Reds keep pace with Manchester United

It's a moment Leanne Kiernan will surely have been dreaming of since Liverpool returned to the Women's Super League (WSL).

The Republic of Ireland striker, who, until this weekend, had not scored for the Reds since April 2022, must have been starting to wonder when her fortunes would change. Liverpool's top scorer in their promotion-winning campaign, Kiernan spent much of the club's first season back in the top flight on the sidelines after picking up a severe ankle injury in the opening day win over Chelsea.

A few substitute appearances in the final months of last season were not enough to merit a place in Vera Pauw's World Cup squad, and a succession of niggling injuries have so far prevented her from playing a starring role this term. But against her former club West Ham United on Sunday, Kiernan was handed her first league start of the campaign, and she marked the occasion with her first goal in 694 days.

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It was perhaps not her most cultured finish, with the striker on hand to prod home from a few yards out after Ceri Holland beat the onrushing Mackenzie Arnold to the ball. But that certainly did not diminish the goal's significance, both to Kiernan and to Liverpool, who remain level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United with just six games of the season left to play.

While Sunday's showdown with the Hammers was not quite a must-win, it felt imperative that the Reds up the ante from last weekend's FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Leicester City. That this week's semi-final draw decided the Foxes would battle it out with