Jordan Henderson dedicates Liverpool goal in memory of grandmother
Monday 14 December 2015 15:20, UK
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has dedicated his first goal of the season to his family in memory of his grandmother who died last week.
Henderson's first thought after opening the scoring in the 2-2 draw at home to West Brom on Sunday was to celebrate with Adam Lallana, who had provided the knockdown.
But once the initial rush had subsided the 26-year-old blew a kiss to the skies and raised both arms in tribute.
"It has been a difficult time for my family of late on a personal level so that was for them really," said Henderson, who was making his first league start since August 17 after foot problems.
"It is nice to be playing, being on the pitch and contributing to the team. It was disappointing it wasn't a win but I thought the performance was good at times.
"We started really well but we should be finishing games off and that is what we have to improve on.
"But we kept going and managed to get an equaliser late on and I thought we were going to get a winner but we couldn't get the ball over the line.
"I think that is a real positive we can take out of the day. Even though we went 2-1 down we kept going to the end and that is what you have to do in football.
"We scored one and were unlucky not to score another one and that could have changed the game in five minutes. You have to keep going right till the end."
Liverpool's long-term Achilles heel - their fallibility at set-pieces - was ruthlessly exposed by West Brom who scored with their only two efforts on target, which both came from corners.
Even manager Jurgen Klopp said it felt like 98 per cent of the goals they conceded were from free-kicks or corners and Henderson accepts it is an area which has to improve.
"We need to make sure we defend set-plays much better," he added.
"We've been working on it because it's not good enough, to be honest. We need to keep working on it and improve quickly because it's cost us two points."
