Niamh Fahey has voiced her pride at clocking up 100 Liverpool appearances after she captained the Reds to a 2-0 victory over West Ham in the Women's Super League.
Liverpool made a bright start to the contest at Prenton Park on Sunday afternoon, Holland pouncing on an error at the back and slotting the ball home to give the hosts the lead inside three minutes. Both Emma Koivisto and Gilly Flaherty came close before top-scorer Katie Stengel bagged her sixth goal of the season with a cool finish into the bottom corner to secure the Reds' second WSL win of the season.
Fahey marshalled the back line superbly as Matt Beard's side managed to shut out the opposition for the first time since returning to the top flight, and the Liverpool skipper was delighted to crown her milestone appearance with a clean sheet.
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"We’ve been disappointed with the last two games conceding three although I think against Brighton two of them were unfortunate," Fahey said after the game.
"I think we’ve been getting a bit of stick as well so to come up and get a clean sheet it's just got the monkey off the back and we can build from that as well. That’s our standard going forward."
Fahey, a lifelong Liverpool fan, enjoyed spells with Arsenal, Chelsea and Bordeaux before making the switch to Merseyside in July 2018. The Republic of Ireland international has started all of Liverpool's league games so far this term and penned a new deal with in the summer to extend her stay on Merseyside into a fifth season.
"I’m only the third person with Gemma Bonner and Ash Hodson to make that hundredth appearance for the club so it is a big landmark," she said. "It's sunk in and I'm extremely proud to have made that step for Liverpool."
Sunday's clash marked Liverpool's first win since the opening day of the season and sees the Reds move to ninth in the table. And Fahey believes that Wales international Ceri Holland's workrate in the middle of the park was integral to securing the elusive victory.
“I thought she was fantastic," Fahey said. "She’s just coming back into her form again after she picked up that knock so the energy she brings at that aggression in there.
"Herself and Jas (Matthews) I thought were outstanding in the middle, they really dominated, so a fantastic performance and great for her to get on the scoresheet."
The weekend's encounter was the first of three games in eight days for Matt Beard's side, with the Reds set to take on Manchester City in the Contintental League Cup in midweek before welcoming bottom-of-the-league Leicester City to Prenton Park next Sunday.
Fahey said: "(Leicester is) another big game. They’re all big games but that one especially because we’re in and around each other.
"It (was) important to get three points (against West Ham) but that’s gone now and we have to get back to the drawing board, get ready for City midweek and then Leicester at the weekend."
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