Academy'We worked our socks off and got the rewards from that'

The young Reds ran out 5-1 winners on the road in their first league game of 2025-26, delivering three satisfying points for their new head coach.

The visitors had established a 2-0 lead at half-time through DJ Esdaille and Joe Bradshaw, and Josh Sonni-Lambie then added the third goal on the hour mark in spectacular fashion.

In the final quarter of an hour, Finn Inglethorpe scored with his first touch after coming on as a substitute and Liverpool's fifth came courtesy of an own goal.

Read on for Wiles' reaction to the start of the season…

On the win...

Delighted with that, delighted with that performance. I think coming into the game, we just wanted to make sure that we were really difficult to beat and be on the front foot with our out-of-possession work. My word, they worked their socks off. They were really aggressive, showed a real intensity to their play and got the rewards from that with some really good moments and some really eye-catching performances at the top end of the pitch.

On Sonni-Lambie's goal from the halfway line...

That's outstanding. It's an absolutely outstanding finish. I think it's at a really, really important time because Stoke came out in the second half and they started putting us under a lot of pressure and we were trying to find a way to keep playing. Just that moment of quality, it settles everything and then we started getting a little bit more of the ball and we start playing again. They're really key moments in terms of momentum. But to have the ability to do that and deliver was absolutely outstanding, and it couldn't have come at a better time for us in terms of where the game was at.

On Prince Cisse playing at centre-back...

Prior to me coming in, I was watching the games and the staff were working with him and thought that they'd unleashed a new opportunity for him. You've got to take your hat off to Prince himself in that situation. Because sometimes if you're not getting the game time or you might not be affecting it as much as you can do, staff as a group, Academy manager, Tosh [assistant manager Anthony Ryan] are looking at, 'Right, what are his capabilities, what can he bring to the team, is there another opportunity where we can put him in a different position?'

I think he's only played there five or six times and the competition that they faced with the two centre-forwards that they were up against, I think they competed really well. He's got the physical capabilities, which is really good, and he's good on the ball. In this moment, you've really got to take your hat off to him in terms of how he's conducted himself and he's really open-minded to this change of position. I think if you're getting performances and going up against opposition like he did, it's only going to help him keep progressing.