Words:
William Hughes
“The 4-4 at Goodison was
unbelievable. Defensively we’d
been playing half-decent. We’d
been really solid but it was just
one of those nights when you
kept thinking: I can’t believe that
just happened. And that was at
either end. We should have won
the game easily but it was just a
manic night and then we ended
up losing the third game 1-0.
“It was a fantastic game to
watch. I suppose if you were
a neutral watching you’d say
that game was one of the best
you’ve ever seen. But from a
Liverpool perspective it was poor
stuff because at that time we
were renowned for not letting
teams get back when we’d
got our noses in front. It was a
remarkable night and then Kenny
was gone.”
It was another 18 years before
the sides met again – this time in
the fourth round in late January
and early February 2009 – and
again it took more than one
game to produce a winner.
Steven Gerrard gave the Reds
a second bite of the cherry with
an Anfield equaliser in a 1-1 draw
after central defender Joleon
Lescott's goal had given Everton
a half-time advantage.
Young midfielder Dan Gosling
would be Everton's extra-time
hero in the Goodison re-run.
Gerrard had limped off withan injury after 16 minutes and
Lucas was red-carded for
a second bookable offence
with 14 minutes of normal time
remaining.
Given those circumstances,
Rafael Benitez's men would have
probably settled for penalties
and a shoot-out was just a
couple of minutes away when
Gosling's shot took a deflection
off both full-back Alvarao Arbeloa
and centre-half Martin Skrtel in
finding its way past goalkeeper
Pepe Reina. Everton went on
to reach the final but lost out to
Chelsea at Wembley.The national stadium was the
stage for the most recent clash
of the Mersey rivals in their FA
Cup history, coming in the 2012
semi-final. Liverpool, back under
the management of Dalglish,
trailed David Moyes' Blues 1-0 at
the interval with Nikica Jelavic
sending the Evertonians into
raptures with a 24th-minute goal.
Liverpool had carried little threat
but were given a way back
into the tie when Luis Suarez
seized on a poor back-pass
by defender Sylvain Distin to
equalise just after the hour mark.
With three minutes remaining
Craig Bellamy's free-kick was
headed home by Andy Carroll to
book a place in the final, where
they also came up just short
against Chelsea.
Liverpool v Everton in the FA
Cup. Plenty of ups and downs for
both sets of fans to date. Now
supporters await what might
unfold in the next chapter of this
long-running drama tonight.IT WAS JUST ONE OF
THOSE NIGHTS WHEN
YOU KEPT THINKING:
I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT
JUST HAPPENED...
Wembley 2012:
the last timeAnfield fourth-round
draw, January 2009