Liverpool Women promoted to WSL after clinching Championship title

Manager Matt Beard led the club to two top-flight title wins before returning this year in the second tier

(Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Liverpool will return to the Women’s Super League after securing the second division title with a 4-2 win over Bristol City on Sunday.

Goals from Niamh Fahey, Jas Matthews, Katie Stengel and Missy Bo Kearns secured the result for Liverpool in front of 5,752 supporters at Ashton Gate, a record attendance for the division.

City were Liverpool‘s main challengers for the Women’s Championship title, sitting 11 points behind them going into the game, but the result extends the gap to an insurmountable 14.

They pick up the trophy with two games left to play, with City having three remaining fixtures.

The team’s current manager, Matt Beard, was in charge when they won the WSL in 2013 and 2014 and becomes the first coach to win titles in both of the country’s top two women’s football leagues.

“If you look at this division, everyone thought Liverpool being relegated would go right back up. Nobody’s got a divine right to be anywhere and we’ve earned that right for sure,” Beard told reporters.

“We’ve worked incredibly hard to get back (to the WSL). It’s a tough division. I do think we’ve got a great group of people here and our aim and ambition will be to be sensible, consolidate ourselves and then progress year-on-year.”

The Merseyside club, whose men’s team currently sit second in the Premier League, dropped out of the top flight when they were relegated on a points-per-game basis when the 2019/20 campaign was curtailed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reuters