A Gray day for Reds at Anfield

The FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
Wednesday 5th February 2003 

 

Gray smashed home the first on 54 minutes that gave Dudek not chance of seeing, let alone stopping, and with 11 minutes left his parading run and cross from the left was sent into the net by the hapless Stephane Henchoz.

After earning a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park ten days before, Palace were undoubted underdogs when they arrived at Anfield, where only Valencia and Manchester United have beaten the Reds this season, and their job should have been made even more difficult in the opening moments when, first Bruno Cheyrou, then Sami Hyypia came close to scoring.

More of the same followed as Liverpool's speed of passing and movement created chance after chance, with Michael Owen guilty of three clear-cut misses. Cheyrou was then denied again, this one was struck with more venom than his last, but a strong hand from 'keeper Cedric Berthelin kept it out and the ball rebounded to safety.

El-Hadji Diouf, who is beginning to settle to life in England, was quick down the Liverpool right and continued to question the Palace defence. But he could do nothing but watch as his run and cut back to Owen eight-yards out was blazed in to the Kop.

A change by Trevor Francis, bringing on the attacking influence of Dougie Freedman in place of Danny Granville, turned out to be a master stroke by the man still seething from his former club Birmingham's Worthington Cup final shoot-out defeat by Liverpool two years ago. The Eagles now had another target to in the business end to relieve pressure from their busy defenders. And just after the break their positivity was rewarded when the first chance of the half went their way, but missed the target.

But it soon looked like normal business was to be resumed when Emile Heskey intercepted a loose ball deep in his own half and found himself through on goal. With England strike partner Owen in support Berthelin must have been praying for a miracle, but what he got was a woeful Heskey attempted chip that was easily stopped by the Frenchman and from then on you could sense that it was going to be Palace's night.

Within moments the south Londoners were on the attack, Freedman crossed from the right toward Dele Adebola, his glancing header dropped nicely for Julian Gray arriving unmarked at the far post and the young number 11 lashed the ball across Dudek and in to the top corner, right in front of the Kop.

Liverpool were now on red alert and needed to find a goal from somewhere but again Cheyrou and Hyypia headed wide as Houllier's men took risks at the back. Andrew Johnson, the man who missed the deciding penalty for Francis' Birmingham two years ago, should have scored again for Palace as they surged from defence, but the ball trickled agonisingly wide.

Five minutes later Milan Baros was sent on in place of Murphy and Liverpool were going all out attack.

But on 68 minutes the tie swung back towards Liverpool's favour. Dougie Freedman, under pressure from Hyypia out on the line sent an elbow to the jaw of the Liverpool captain and referee Phil Dowd instantly produced the red card.

Diouf, Baros and Cheyrou all had chances as the barrage continued but Berthelin was a match to everything thrown at him.

And when Palace broke on 77 minutes Gray charged down the left, skipped past Jamie Carragher and fizzed in a low shot that Henchoz turned into his own net for the killer goal.

On yet another night, Liverpool are left cursing their luck in front of goal, but all too often this season the Anfield faithful have suffered 'one of those nights', and as they are left to concentrate on other matters, Crystal Palace on the other hand can look forward to another plum-tie as Leeds United are next up at Selhurst Park, and Trevor Francis can put his Cardiff disappointment behind him.

Afterwards Francis said: "I've won here twice as a player for Birmingham and Manchester City, but never as a manager.

"I've had three goes now as a manager and finally made it. When I was manager at Birmingham, we ran them close in the Worthington Cup Final, then 10 days ago we should have beaten them at our place. This time we did it.

"But it certainly seemed unlikely at times, we could barely get into their half but it was Liverpool's inability to finish that allowed us to stay in the match, sometimes I don't know how we survived.

"They made chance after chance and when they keep missing them you wonder whether it's going to be your night.

"In the second half we got better, we pushed forward more and we found the gaps as they attacked."

Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier looked at Emile Heskey's one-on-one miss early in the second half as the moment that swung the tie in Palace's favour, he said after the game: "I have mixed feelings. In the first half we played very good football and our passing was very good at times. We should have finished the match in the first half but we wasted chances.

"The turning point for me was Heskey's miss when he was clean through one-on-one. Mentally our team just sunk after that. Credit to Palace but this is a bad night for us.

"We lost the belief in our football and our freshness was not good with certain players. Maybe going out of the cup could be a blessing in disguise with the number of games we've got left - you never know but I don't like to lose."

Liverpool: Dudek, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise, Diouf, Murphy (Baros 67), Hamann, Cheyrou, Owen, Heskey.
Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Diao, Biscan, Traore.

Crystal Palace: Berthelin, Symons, Powell, Popovic, Butterfield, Mullins, Derry, Gray, Granville (Freedman 36), Adebola (Akinbiyi 90), Johnson (Thomson 88).
Subs Not Used: Black, Cronin.

Bookings: Derry (Palace)
Sendings Off: Freedman
Attendance: 35,109.
Referee: P Dowd (Staffordshire).