Kenny Dalglish has praised Craig Bellamy for his free-kick expertise after the Welshman crossed for Andy Carroll's FA Cup semi-final winner.
Back-up keepers have looked sharp, says Reds boss
Kenny Dalglish has praised Craig Bellamy for his free-kick expertise after the Welshman crossed for Andy Carroll's FA Cup semi-final winner.
Carroll's towering header from Bellamy's delivery secured a 2-1 win for Liverpool over neighbours Everton and a third Wembley visit of the season for the Reds.
And Liverpool boss Dalglish revealed Bellamy had reaped the rewards for hours of hard work at the club's Melwood training ground.
"Craig's delivery for Andy's strike was perfect," wrote Dalglish in his
LFC Weekly Magazine column.
"It always is when the ball finishes in the back of the net. His delivery is normally great; that is because he practises it so much in training.
"It shows that what you do on the training ground pays off. It's not the first time Craig has delivered a ball like that. He's delivered lots of good set-pieces this season. He did it at Chelsea in the Carling Cup when Martin Kelly scored."
Confident keepers
The build-up to the all-Merseyside semi-final included much speculation that Liverpool could struggle as they would be forced to field third-choice goalkeeper Brad Jones.
Both Pepe Reina and Alexander Doni were suspended for the game due to recent red cards and with Jones' only involvement this season being an unconvincing display at Blackburn it could have been an area of weakness.
But the former Middlesbrough man produced a solid display and Dalglish believes the plaudits for that must go to goalkeeping coach John Achterberg for his work with the club's goalkeepers.
"Seeing Brad do well was particularly pleasing," added Dalglish.
"I know he came on at Blackburn, but it's been a while since he started a first-team game. Both him and Doni are a credit to themselves.
"They've both looked sharp and confident. How they've performed has been a good reflection of the work John Achterberg has done with them.
"It's unusual for two keepers to be required in such a short period of time. People sometimes ask, 'why do you need three goalkeepers?' It's in case of situations like this. If we hadn't had (Jones and Doni) we might have had to put in one of the youngsters from the Academy.
"A situation like that could ruin a young boy's career. We were fortunate that we didn't have to consider it."
