Match Reports

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Liverpool 1-1 Ipswich

Liverpool secured their place in the last eight of the Worthington Cup in dramatic fashion, as they came back from a goal down and eventually required penalties to overcome Ipwsich.

Gerard Houllier's team included Igor Biscan, Gregory Vignal, a return to action after illness for Abel Xavier, a debut for Neil Mellor and Jerzy Dudek was included in goal, with Chris Kirkland set for a place in the side for the next Premiershp game.

The first half saw a pretty dull affair, although there were chances for either side, the best of which fell to the visitors, and it was they who took the lead.

A cross from the right by Markus Bent was dealt with poorly by Babbel, who failed to get the ball away, and Miller was on hand for Ipswich to slot the ball into the corner.

The 'Tractor Boys' could have extended their lead before half time, but Dudek was in fine form, first in making a sliding challenge to deny Bent, and later in the half, the big 'keeper made a terrific stop when Counago was faced with a one on one chance, but Dudek spread himself well to narrow the angle for the Ipswich forwad, and he was then able to block the shot to keep the score at 1-0 going into the half time interval.

Liverpool's best two chances both went Diouf's way, the first of which he curled wide of the far post, and the second was a tame header which Marshall ws able to comforably claim.

There wasn't long to wait in the second half before Diouf found himself with another chance to draw The Reds level though, and it came via a penalty, which was awarded after a foul on Mellor by Mark Venus.

After Mellor and Diouf had argued over who would take the penalty, Steven Gerrard eventually had to interveneand hand the ball to the Senegalese forward, who placed the ball well into the corner.

Mellor was close to a goal of his own within seconds of the restart, after a through ball by Smicer set up the 19 year old for a run on goal. But Marshall came rushing off his goalline and Mellor was only able to strike the ball against the post, as his search for a goal on his first team debut continued.

Liverpool were now in full control of the game, and looked likely to run out comfortable winners, with chances becoming more and more frequent in a dominating second half performance.

Gerrard was next to have a run at goal, though was stopped as Marshall bravely slid out and got a hand to the ball to force it away from the Reds' captain. But the 'keeper stayed down and the referee stopped the game just as Diouf rolled the ball into the net. With a large section of the crowd felling that Marshall had deliberately stayed on the ground to win a free kick, and Gerrard equally unhappy with the decision, the contest was starting to turn a little bad tempered.

That continued as soon as the controversially awarded free kick had been taken, when Gerrard found his shirt being pulled by Darren Ambrose and lashed out an elbow at the Ipswich man. Fortunately for Liverpool, the decision went their way, and Gerrard somehow escaped even a yellow card, when many referee's may have chosen to sent Gerrard for an early bath.

Liverpool continued to pile pressure on the Ipswich goal, but with Mellor twice firing wide, and his replacement, Baros, somehow shooting well over when being set up by Smicer, the game went into extra time.

Riise had Liverpool's best chance in extra time but saw a weak shot from 10 yards out blocked by the legs of Marshall, while Baros again fired over the bar at the Kop end with a volley from 5 yards out which looked easier to score than to miss.

Gerrard's attempt to win the game in the last minute of extra time proved unsuccessful, as his 25 yard free kick curled agonisingly wide of the near post with the keeper beaten.

As the whistle went for full time in extra time, the players gathered in the centre of the field to decide on the penalty takers, while the Kop loudly chanted the name of Jerzy Dudek, as they had done throughout much of the game, in support of the Reds' number one, following huge press criticism over his mistake against Man United.

Dudek was not required to make a save in the shootout though, as only one penalty was missed, which was Jamie Clapham with Ipswich's second as he stuck the crossbar, and with the scores at 4-4 with one penalty remaining, El Hadji Diouf tucked away Liverpool's fifth spot kick to put The Reds into the last eight, where they will play away to Aston Villa.

Penalties - How the match was won!