|
Following Sunday’s defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Manchester United Gerard Houllier was looking for a good response from his players.
And none more so than goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek. The giant Pole was expected to be replaced by England Under-21 star Chris Kirkland after his clanger that led to UnitedÂ’s opener.
But he started and was given a tremendous reception by the Anfield faithful.
Division One strugglers Ipswich hadn’t read Houllier’s script and within 15 minutes went one up. Reds defender Marcus Babbel failed to deal with a routine cross from the right knocked in by Darren Bent.
Instead of clearing with ease the former German international sliced the ball and it fell kindly for Tommy Miller.
The grateful midfielder made no mistake slotting home into DudekÂ’s right-hand corner from the edge of the six-yard area.
Under-fire keeper Dudek boosted his confidence with two superb saves to keep the margin down after his rearguard was caught flat-footed.
And his counterpart, Andy Marshall, did well to stop a decent Vladimir Smicer effort on the half-hour mark.
But this otherwise dull encounter didn’t really come to life until just under ten minutes after the break when Liverpool equalised thanks to an El Hadji Diouf penalty.
Striker Neil Mellor chased gamely after a long ball from his captain Steven Gerrard and was pulled down inside the box by defender Mark Venus for his efforts.
Senegalese star Diouf made no mistake from the spot calmly slotting past Marshall and Mellor was very unlucky when his well struck shot hit the post just 40 seconds later.
Liverpool continued to dominate the Tractor Boys in all sections of the park but struggled to find the net, with Mellor and left-back Gregory Vignal both missing good chances.
Joe Royle’s men almost stole it in the dying minutes but Bent’s header from a curling free- kick clattered agonisingly off the woodwork.
And as extra time loomed large John Arne Riise blasted a great chance over the bar from close range.
In extra time Liverpool dominated just as they had done for the previous 90 minutes but failed to clinch it, with vital misses yet again from out-of-form Riise and a sitter blasted over from striker Milan Baros.
But they showed their nerve in the penalty shoot-out. Ipswich missed one through Jamie Clapham and the home side go through to face Aston Villa in the next round.