English League Cup Third Round Liverpool 4 Reading 3The English League Cup holds little attraction to Liverpool these days, so intent is this club upon loftier competitions, but it at least offered Liverpool some much-needed relief last night. This developed into a stunning tie, Reading refusing to sink in the deluge, though the hosts will cling to any victory these days.
These opponents had never ventured to this arena but they will do so again in the Premiership next month with some confidence courtesy of the incredible late revival that earned them three goals in the last 15 minutes and threatened to erode the home side's utter dominance.
The magnificence of Peter Crouch's fourth goal for Liverpool, a glorious dummy to round Graham Stack, was lost in the frenzy at the end.
That Liverpool ended feeling relief hardly suggested a renaissance.
For so long, this had been a game befitting such a miserable evening. Sides made virtually unrecognisable by 15 changes from the weekend - eight of them by Rafael Benitez to take his tally of consecutive matches without fielding an unchanged line-up to 98 - spluttered in the downpour.
While the water pooled, the quality drained until, eventually, Reading's concentration went with it. Capitulation followed.
A drab opening was drifting to a soggy and goalless conclusion when Jermaine Pennant was allowed marginally too much time and space in possession.
The winger advanced and, as Reading's ragged back-line retreated, slipped Robbie Fowler smartly between defenders and the returning captain chipped the exposed Stack with ease.
The visitors, long the slicker side, were still raging at that loss of concentration when Fowler, making his first appearance since September 9th, liberated John Arne Riise down the left.
The Norwegian's diagonal drive was parried by Stack, the ball cannoning back to Riise on the edge of the area, and his second attempt duly skimmed into the corner.
The unexpected plunder punctured the growing mood of exasperation. Andre Bikey had largely smothered the midfield, with the combination play mustered down either flank exposing the home side's jittery defence. Yet all that effort had been frittered away in the seconds before the interval.
The third goal, shipped far too easily five minutes after the break, seemed to have settled the result.
Pennant's corner veered awkwardly into the cluttered six-yard box where Gabriel Paletta held off Bryn Gunnarsson to ease his header into the net.
But even with Crouch adding the fourth, there was a sting for the hosts to endure. The England forward's goal had come minutes after Bikey had thumped in Glen Little's free-kick and was pursued by Leroy Lita spearing in from the edge of the box.
And when Shane Long leapt to nod in Little's centre five minutes from time Benitez was left pacing with fury etched across his brow.
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Peltier (Smith 74), Paletta, Agger, Warnock, Pennant, Sissoko (Guthrie 62), Zenden, Riise (Kuyt 79), Fowler, Crouch. Subs not used: Martin, Carragher. Booked: Paletta. Goals: Fowler 44, Riise 45, Paletta 50, Crouch 77.
READING: Stack, De la Cruz, Bikey, Ingimarsson, Halls, Little, Gunnarsson (Sodje 83), Oster, Hunt, Lita, Long. Subs not used: Hahnemann, Hayes, Osano, Joseph-Dubois. Booked: Little. Goals: Bikey 75, Lita 81, Long 85.
Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire).
