Liverpool made it five wins out of six ahead of the new season, as we wrapped up our pre-season campaign with a 2-1 victory over League One side Swindon Town – with Christian Benteke and Sheyi Ojo scoring the goals.
After a goalless first-half, in which the visitors had the better of the chances and the possession but failed to make a breakthrough, it took a moment of brilliance from Benteke to open the scoring – bringing the ball down on his chest before volleying it superbly into the net.
Jonathan Obika brought the home side level after good work on the edge of the area from Anton Rodgers – son of Liverpool manager Brendan – and it looked as though Swindon had done enough to earn a draw.
However, Ojo’s late effort was only palmed up in the air by Lawrence Vigouroux, and the ball dropped down agonisingly into the net – much to the despair of the Liverpool goalkeeper, on trial at Swindon today.
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Read the full Liverpool player ratings below:
GK) Adam Bogdan – 6 (Fulton – 67′)
Dealt well with a couple of testing crosses – in contrast to Mignolet on Saturday – and handled the ball well throughout the game. He couldn’t do anything about the goal, which was a fine finish, and had little else to do.
RB) Trent Alexander-Arnold – 6 (Cleary – 58′)
Looked understandably nervous early on and had a couple of loose touches. Improved as the game went on and looked more than decent for a 16-year-old. He’ll have done his future prospects no harm at all with this showing.
CB) Kolo Toure – 6
Captain for the day, Toure went about his work as we all would have expected. He was rarely stretched by the Swindon attack and will be quietly confident of having a bit more game time this season than we might expect.
CB) Mamadou Sakho – 7
The Frenchman looks a lot more at home on the ball than Dejan Lovren. The confidence is there and he looked at ease in possession this evening. It would come as a real surprise if he didn’t get the nod against Stoke, wouldn’t it?
LB) Alberto Moreno – 5
Failed to get a foot in and prevent the goal, allowing his man to cut inside and get his shot away. Should have scored in the second-half as well when he went through on goal. Joe Gomez must be feeling pretty confident.
