The Reds travelled down to Exeter City for a second round league cup tie. The Reds had not played in this round for over a decade and they sent a strong side out at St James's Park in a bid to go through with ease.
John Flanagan, Jack Robinson and Danny Wilson all came in to the defence as well as Martin Skrtel who returned from his injury.
Exeter got the game started but it was the Reds who put their foot straight on to the ball and after two minutes Skrtel hit the side netting from a corner.
The Reds settled quickly in to the game and although Exeter certainly weren't overawed we were in control.
The Reds were pushing forward were they could and looking for that all important opening. In that time they won plenty of corner kicks but just couldn't quite get the important touch to an array of different style corners from Adam.
Captain for the night was Pepe Reina and his first taste of the action came on sixteen minutes when a header went straight at him.
On Nineteen minutes Raul Meireles was in need of medical attention after he damaged his shoulder jumping out of the way of a tackle. He had clearly damaged his shoulder as he was escorted straight back to the dressing room and Andy Carroll was sent on in his place. Meireles is one of those players who always shirks tackles and this was no different and it was his fall that did the damage.
The Reds opened the scoring on twenty two minutes through Luis Suarez. Jordan Henderson was played down the right wing and with plenty of time to pick out his man put in a cross. The keeper knocked the ball down and Suarez struck the ball home through a defenders legs on the line.
Exeter were forced in to a change on twenty six minutes when Keohane replaced Bouza who had gone down injured.
The goal seemed to settle the game down a bit more and Exeter did try and get in to the game a bit - they clearly liked to play football on the floor and their pitch aided that.
On thirty four minutes Suarez broke down the right wing and he fizzed in a cross but somehow Maxi failed to get the crucial touch on it which would surely have hit the back of the net and the ball went out the far side.
A couple of minutes later and Adam shot wide of the target but the home side were starting to play better football with good approach play but not fully troubling Pepe Reina.
After a few added minutes the ref blew for half time. Without going all out I thought we were in relative control of the game although we could have put the game to bed already had we really gone for it I think.
Neither side made changes at half time and the Reds got the game started again.
In the first minute of the half and former Man United player Daniel Nardiello was played in behind the defence but with Reina charging out he lobbed the keeper but lifted it wide although Wilson and Skrtel would have got back.
Exeter were given an injury scare a couple of minutes later when Shephard went down under a challenge from Suarez. In fairness to Suarez he stayed by the player concerned for him for the unintentional knock.
Jordan Henderson was booked on fifty one minutes when he took a fall in the box trying to round his man. The ref was right on the incident and saw that Henderson left his foot in to fall over their man and had no doubt about booking him.
On fifty four minutes the match was made a bit easier for the Reds when Suarez broke down the inside right and after his first cross was blocked he put in a second cross to Maxi who charged in and slammed home from six yards.
On fifty eight minutes it was three nil when Suarez charged forward and tried to play a one-two with Carroll but after he went down under a challenge Carroll turned a shot from just outside the box to beat the Exeter keeper.
The Reds took that goal as the opportunity to replace Suarez with Stewart Downing. The goals had clearly helped the Reds but they had just started to up the pace a little and were clearly looking to put the game to bed as quickly as they could after the half time team talk.
On sixty four minutes Exeter made their second change with McNish replacing Shephard in their line up. McNish didn't take long to get in on the action as he forced Reina in to a save with a decent shot from just outside the box.
Downing forced the keeper in to a good save at his near post when he cut inside from the right wing. It was a great shot well saved and Andy Carroll then headed wide from the resulting corner ball.
Exeter made their final switch when Danny Coles was replaced by Tom Nichols on seventy six minutes. The Reds also made a switch at the same time with Shelvey replacing Charlie Adam in the midfield.
Exeter were given a consolation goal on seventy nine minutes when Martin Skrtel brought down his man in the box. You shove a leg out in the box and you;re asking for trouble and the ref pointed straight to the spot. Daniel Nardiello stepped up and slammed the ball straight down the middle.
The Reds did come under a bit of pressure late on after the goal but nothing to dangerous and the final whistle went on a job well done.
Playing against sides from a lower league can be very tricky but if you pay them respect and roll your sleeves up your quality should always show through and that's what the Reds did. It wasn't a superb performance but it was certainly a deserved win. From an Exeter point of view I have to say I was well impressed by them and if they play that kind of football all season in the league then I'm sure they will be ok in their campaign.
MotM : Jay Spearing - very tidy game in the centre of midfield and got stuck in when he needed to.
