Of the Liverpool players who set foot at the Vitality Stadium during the 2-1 win over Bournemouth, vying for Man of the Match were Daniel Sturridge, Jordon Ibe, Joe Allen, and Danny Ward who made in his Liverpool debut.
Sturridge, who was a nightmare for Cherries defenders, should have scored at least two more goals. Alas, he was a little wasteful with superb chances even with the keeper beaten. Ibe was involved with both Liverpool goals and deserves mention. Allen wreaked havoc on Bournemouth’s midfielders and attacks with his marauding role that kept Bournemouth back pedalling for much of the first 60 minutes. Ward on the other hand, was superb and saved the game for Liverpool.
He’s listed with three saves but the Welshman showed great instincts, a quickness of mind and hands, and decisiveness. The manner in which he quickly surveyed the field and put the ball into play served Liverpool well and had Bournemouth quickly retreating. That means he has good vision and makes good reads. Good qualities I’d say a darn good goalkeeper must posses.
This past season while minding the nets of Aberdeen (second in the Scottish Premier League), Ward played in 23 matches in all competitions conceding 21 goals but saving 72 shots. He also had 12 clean sheets.
And he nearly had one in his Liverpool debut, but Josh King was allowed to turn and fire a shot that dipped under Ward who nearly blocked the powerful shot.
King had three very good attempts but Ward saved two big shots including the misplay by central back Mamadou Sakho that allowed the Cherries’ forward to race forward. Sakho was still able to get a block on the shot but it was spiralling towards the net when Ward threw up a hand to deflect it.
And in the first half, there was that great read on the header by Mark Pugh.
It would have been nice to have a clean sheet but Ward’s performance was plenty good enough to warrant another shot at starting for the Reds.
----------------------
Here are some highlights from Danny Ward's stint with Aberdeen before he was recalled by Liverpool.
No comments:
Post a Comment