Liverpool 2 Northampton 2:ON MERSEYSIDE the League Cup has provided a pint and a half of humiliation. If anyone at Anfield had taken any pleasure from Everton's humbling at Brentford, the laughter was choked by a performance that stank of a club sleepwalking towards a crisis.
Like Everton, Liverpool were forced into a penalty shoot-out and unlike their neighbours on the far side of Stanley Park, they lost it. When Nathan Eccleston became the second Liverpool player to miss, Abdul Osman had a single spot-kick in front of the Kop to present Northampton with the greatest result in thier history. He was nerveless.
However, had David Ngog not headed home with five minutes of extra-time remaining or Martin Kelly not cleared off the line immediately afterwards, Liverpool would not even have had the escape route of a penalty shoot-out conducted in a monsoon.
Having gone behind as early as the eighth minute, the side 17th in League Two fought back to equalise, force extra time and then come within a few moments of snatching perhaps the finest result in their history as Michael Jacobs, a graduate of Northampton’s youth teams drove home a loose ball into the net beneath the Kop after Brad Jones had parried Kevin Thornton’s shot. That Northampton would throw themselves into the occasion with every fibre of their being was predictable. That they would be the better side for swathes of the match was not.
Milan Jovanovic’s goal was almost the only coherent move Liverpool put together in normal time and after the interval Northampton profited from a carelessness that is threatening to become endemic. Liverpool failed to clear a ball played into the area by Liam Davis and Billy McKay, a Northern Ireland Under-21 international who had been released by Leicester, smashed the ball past Jones. Jovanovic’s goal ought to have provided the signal for a rout but did nothing of the sort.
Although there was no insurance on the bench, where mainly academy graduates sat beside him, Hodgson had selected a reasonably strong side, although before the interval he was tearing off his jacket in frustration.
Northampton conducted themselves admirably both defensively and in attack. Liam Davis judged his challenge superbly in his own area to dispossess Daniel Pacheco, while at the other end Michael Jacobs sent a shot whistling past the post beneath the Kop.
In the Anfield Road End, the travelling supporters began a chorus, to the tune of Hey Jude, of "La, la la la ... Cobblers". The next couple of months will determine whether this will be the theme to Liverpool's season.
Guardian Service
LIVERPOOL: Jones, Kelly, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Wilson, Pacheco (Ince 105), Lucas, Spearing, Jovanovic (Eccleston 91), Babel (Shelvey 100), Ngog. Subs not used: Hansen, Amoo, Wisdom, Robinson.
NORTHAMPTON TOWN: Dunn, Johnson (Wedderburn 87), Holt, Tozer, Davis, Rodgers (Herbert 80), Gilligan, Thornton, Osman, Jacobs, Mckay (Guinan 83). Subs not used: Walker, Harris, Slowe, Kaziboni. Booked: Thornton, Rodgers, Davis.
Referee: A Taylor(Cheshire).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)