The Reds came from behind to progress to the next round of the League cup at Stoke. The Reds fell behind late in the first half but two second half strikes from Luis Suarez took them in to the quarter finals.
Travelling to Stoke hasn't been great in the league so the thoughts of a cold night for the league cup wasn't inspiring and the throw in fear was made to feel worse at the sight of the shrunken pitch. I guess football league rules allow a few changes to be made.
The Reds made a host of changes to the side with Andy Carroll and Seb Coates amongst those coming in to the starting side.
Stoke got the game started and were straight in to the ball up top stuff but the Reds coped quite well all night with it.
After about seven minutes Stoke had the first real chances of the game when he shot over the bar - though I'm sure Reina had it covered.
A couple of minutes later at the other end Carroll shot from outside the box which Sorensen saved and then Suarez shot wide from the rebound after being a little off balance.
We had a good few chances in the half without really troubling the net too much but it was looking promising at least. I still thought back to the game earlier this season though when we dominated Stoke but couldn't score.
Jamie Carragher picked up a booking midway through the half when he slid in on Etherington and once he missed the ball he could have no complaints at seeing the card.
We seemed to be coping quite well with any of the throws that Stoke put in to our box and I never felt that usual sense of doom for a change. That's not to say we've got one over on Stoke with these that's for sure.
As the Reds were starting to master the game Stoke took the lead. Agger and Suarez were chasing a ball down towards Sorensen but the keeper cleared wide right for them. Coates went over to deal with the ball but as he waited for it to come down Walters nipped in and stole the ball from him before charging to the area. He crossed for Jones and he headed the ball home to send the home fans wild with delight.
The goal came at a bad time really - just before half time and just as I was quite happy with how we were coping and seeing another game for Coates going quite well.
Half time saw the introduction of Skrtel for Carragher and he took his place in the middle of the defence.
The second half was just eight minutes old when Suarez warmed the whole stadium up for me. He collected a ball out wide left and controlled it. As he moved towards the box he megged Shotton before bending a superb shot past Sorensen in to the side of the net for a stunning equaliser. After seeing the replays of this the ball ends up wrapping itself around the stanchion as Suarez reeled away in delight - a stunning goal.
Stoke tried to react to the goal with a couple of switches - one of which saw former Red Jermaine Pennant coming on.
Now we were back on equal terms I was hopeful of taking the game in normal time although we ultimately had to wait a while for that to come. I did think we looked in some control though.
Stoke tried to work their way in tot he game and much of it ended up as a midfield battle.
Craig Bellamy was introduced for the final ten minutes in place of Maxi and he had a shot off the post almost with his first touches. It did show the Reds the way forward though and on eighty three minutes came the winner.
Jordan Henderson volleyed a ball in to the area and as it looped over the defender Suarez superbly guided the ball past Sorensen in to the same corner as his shot. It was a class finish from Suarez and shows his quality.
Suarez didn't stay on for too long after the winner and he was replaced by Kuyt but Suarez had done enough to win the match for the Reds.
The final onslaught from Stoke was inevitable as they sent on another former Red in Peter Crouch to end the game but he just couldn't get in to the game enough and so the Reds had done enough again to progress and with a much changed side to boot.
MotM : Luis Suarez - he puts everything in to every game and his two finishes were superb although the first stands out for me.
