A young LFC fan let out an "almighty scream" when her footballing hero helped to fulfil her dream of visiting Anfield.
Edith Marsh, five, is "obsessed" with football and first went to watch Liverpool Women play against Chelsea in Feburary 2020. Edith's family moved to Essex from Roby a number of years ago, and usually go to watch Matt Beard's side when they're playing away from home.
Edith's parents arranged for the family to make the trip to Liverpool to see the Reds battle it out against Everton in the Merseyside derby last month, however the five-year-old's long-awaited first trip to Anfield nearly didn't happen after the family's car broke down on the motorway. Edith's dad, Bradley, told the ECHO : "Edith started playing football when she was 16-months old. She’s five now and it's her dream to play for Liverpool women one day.
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"She’s just obsessed with it. Since we moved back down south, getting to Anfield for men’s games in nigh on impossible. Getting to see the women when they’re down this end of the country is the best way to expose her to football and to Liverpool but, with the Merseyside derby being at Anfield, there was no way we were missing that.
“We’d been saving for months to spend the whole weekend in Liverpool and we set off on the Friday morning. We got onto the M1 and the car just started shuddering and packed up."
After hours stranded at a service station, the family was left with no choice but to fork out to be towed back home, leaving them "devastated" at the prospect of missing the chance to be part of a 27,000 strong crowd at Anfield. Bradley said: "Me and my partner were in tears because we felt like failures as parents.
"You never want to let your kids down and we didn’t know when the next opportunity would be to get to Anfield in such a special game. We were devastated and when we told Edith she burst into tears."
On the way back to Essex, Bradley's partner, Lorraine, shared a good luck message with the team on Twitter and was absolutely stunned by the response she received from Edith's favourite player, Missy Bo Kearns. Bradley said: "Missy Bo and the club both got in touch and said they wanted to do something for her.
"We assumed it would be a signed shirt or a photo, which would have still been amazing. But Missy said ‘I’m not having Edith miss this game, its too important for her’ and she arranged to have a car pick us up before the game, and then take us home afterwards.
"We couldn’t believe it and when we told Edith she let out this almighty scream because she was so excited. This isn’t the sort of thing that happens to people like us."
As promised, the Liverpool-born midfielder arranged for a "luxury" car to pick the family up from their Essex home on the morning of the game, and drop them back there the same evening. Although the Reds were defeated by three goals to nil, Bradley said the memories created on the day will stay with the family for the rest of their lives.
He said: "The result was obviously a bit disappointing but the players still came over afterward to meet the fans and Missy Bo gave Edith a big hug, as has become a bit of tradition. She was still smiling and made Edith feel really special.
"We travelled back, again in absolute luxury, and for one day we were just made to feel absolutely special. There was no way Missy Bo had to do that and it's a memory that will live on in the memory of me and my partner for the rest of our lives.
"I don’t think the players realise sometimes how much of a positive effect they have on people. I know what scousers are like, we’ve lived there and its a wonderful city. What Missy Bo's done has shown that, and there’s just something special about this club."
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