Morgan Strikes As Reds Sink Bolton

Liverpool Reserves produced another exhilarating display of attacking football to overwhelm Bolton 3-1 on Tuesday afternoon.

Second-half goals from Suso, Adam Morgan and Raheem Sterling did the damage as the young Reds made it two wins on the spin in the Barclays Premier Reserve League North.

Michael O'Halloran grabbed a late consolation for the visitors but it did little to take the gloss off an accomplished showing.

It means Rodolfo Borrell's team have now taken six points from their first four league matches and will go into next Monday's trip to Blackburn in high spirits.

Ahead of a sun-drenched encounter in Kirkby, the Spaniard had called upon his side to approach Bolton with the same hunger and desire that had seen them convincingly put Chelsea to the sword.

The former Barcelona coach was without Hungarian starlet Krisztian Adorjan who was away on international duty but was buoyed by the inclusion of first-team squad members, Jon Flanagan and Danny Wilson.

The visitors came into the contest on the back of five defeats in their first seven league games and the Reds looked to take advantage of their low confidence early on.

Indeed, it could have been 1-0 inside 90 seconds when Morgan let fly from distance, but his shot arrowed inches past the upright.

Less than a minute later they were at it again but Sterling's tap-in was ruled out for offside after Morgan was brought down attempting to round Jay Lynch in the Wanderers goal.

The No.9, who had passed his driving test just hours earlier, looked eager to make it a day of double celebration and almost finished off a neat move soon after when he fired Sterling's cutback into the side netting.

Having survived the quick-fire peppering of their goal, Bolton started to grow in confidence and Topi Obadeyi was unlucky to see his stinging effort flash just wide of the far post.

Jack Sampson then wasted a glorious chance to put the away team ahead before Morgan repeated the trick when he somehow contrived to steer Suso's pass off target on 25 minutes.

Next, the Spaniard jinked his way towards the edge of the box and lined up a low shot that was easily claimed by Lynch.

It had developed into an even contest and Bolton came close yet again when Josh Vela failed to connect with a left-wing cross. The Reds could only half-clear their lines and Martin Hansen was relieved to see O'Halloran's piledriver crash into his near post side netting.

On 44 minutes Borrell's team almost snatched the interval advantage when Sterling exchanged a delightful one-two with Suso, but the winger could only stab wide when faced by the advancing Lynch.

A goal was the only thing missing from a vibrant Liverpool display but any concerns it was going to turn into an afternoon of frustration were ended within four minutes of the restart.

A free-kick was awarded on the right-side of the area, allowing Suso to step up and curl a deflected shot beyond Lynch and into the far corner of the net.

It gave Liverpool the confidence-boost they needed and after weathering a short period of Bolton pressure they doubled their lead on 62 minutes.

Conor Coady found Michael Ngoo in space, who in turn picked out the run of Morgan. The young striker was determined to get his goal and this time made no mistake with a cool, low finish from the right-hand side of the area.

To their credit, Bolton responded and Wilson was forced to make a tremendous last-ditch block to deny Vela after Obadeyi had got in behind the Reds rearguard.

The visitors' desire to reduce the arrears inevitably left gaps at the back and 19 minutes from time it was three.

This time Morgan turned provider, steering a sublime ball in behind the defence for Sterling to race through and tuck home at the second attempt.

At this point it looked like Liverpool would continue to add to the scoresheet but it was Bolton who were celebrating next as O'Halloran tucked home from close range following a neat counter attack down the left.

With time running out both teams came close to adding to their respective tallies, but it wasn't to be, on an afternoon when the reserves once again illustrated their huge potential.