Liverpool youngster Steven Irwin is delighted with his promotion to Gary Ablett's reserve-team for the new season.

"Gary is brilliant," Irwin told liverpoolfc.tv. "In the few months that I have been here I have learnt so much from him and all the other coaching staff. Hopefully I can keep learning as much as I can and then push on.

"It helps that there's someone like Gary who has played for the club. He has got that passion, he wants everyone to do well here.

"He's always there to give anyone a helping hand if they need it, and there's no doubt he's already helped me.

"Obviously the pace of training here is a lot quicker. You come up against better players, and sometimes they may be first-team players who need to be with the reserves for whatever reason.

"There is more intensity, but I find it nice to play in that environment."

Irwin, who has been with Liverpool since he was eight, added: "Obviously now my aims for the season are to push on into the reserve team, get as many games as possible and show Gary and the manager what I can do.

"The ultimate ambition is to walk out in front of Liverpool fans every single week. It would be marvelous to play once but you have to set yourself the aim of being in the first-team every week."