Liverpool 5 Luton Town 0: Liverpool finished what the administrators started for Luton Town last night, brutally removing what remained of the elation Kevin Blackwell's men had generated in this season's FA Cup. The financial lifeline that has helped preserve the immediate future of Luton, however, will soon soften the blow.
News that Luton Town Football Club 2020 Limited have guarantees in place to save the club - if not the tenure of its manager - was the result with the greatest consequence for Luton's impressive travelling support last night. The rest paled into insignificance, and especially so as Liverpool forgot their own off-field troubles to secure their place at home to Swansea or Havant and Waterlooville in round four. A banner proclaiming "Dubai SOS - Yanks Out" showed Anfield's problems have not evaporated.
What was an unwelcome addition to the fixture list for Benitez also represented a blessed escape from the turmoil created by his American employers, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
Benitez made four changes from the side fortunate to escape with a draw at Kenilworth Road and the presence of Fernando Torres plus Steven Gerrard in the Liverpool side threatened a foreboding evening for Luton. Yet they were not to be overawed.
Dominated and occasionally fortunate, perhaps, but a team torn of its spine as a result of administration again showed its heart was intact to frustrate Liverpool until the final kick of the first half. The disappointment on the faces of Don Hutchison, resolute as an emergency centre half, and Drew Talbot, again a menace up front for Luton, as they trudged off at the interval was fuelled by annoyance not annihilation.
Ryan Babel finally broke Luton's resistance in the 45th minute. Torres seized on a loose ball with the Anfield clock stopped on 45 and sent Babel clear of a stretched Luton rearguard. A superb finish across Dean Brill low into the far corner proved a shattering blow for Blackwell's side.
Seven minutes after the restart Liverpool extinguished what little remained of Luton's interest in the FA Cup with a second. Pennant instigated the move, exploiting space on the right to pick out Crouch with a deep delivery and the centre forward had the presence of mind to return the ball across goal. With a simple nod over Brill, Gerrard did the rest.
The Liverpool captain almost created a third seconds later when his raking pass prompted Keith Keane to head beyond his own goalkeeper. Though the Luton right back cleared off the line, the closing Crouch was less fortunate, colliding into the post and sustaining a thigh injury that forced his withdrawal.
A glancing header by Sami Hyypia from a Gerrard corner deflected off captain Matthew Spring, over Brill and in off the far post despite the best efforts to clear of Hutchison. In the 64th minute Gerrard doubled his tally when he stroked a loose ball into the bottom corner.
His finest effort was saved until last, a swerving drive from almost 30 yards that gave Gerrard the match-ball.
"We're gonna win 6-5" sang the 6,000-strong Luton fans, some of whom had cancelled holidays to be here, but their rescue act had taken place elsewhere.
LIVERPOOL:Itandje, Arbeloa, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise, Pennant, Alonso, Gerrard (Lucas 73), Babel, Crouch (Kuyt 65), Torres (Aurelio 73). Subs not used: Martin, Kewell. Booked: Hyypia.
LUTON:Brill, Jackson, Hutchison, Keane, Goodall, Bell (McVeigh 73), Robinson (O'Leary 68), Spring, Currie, Andrew (Furlong 68), Talbot. Subs not used: Parkin, Emanuel.
Referee: P Walton (Northamptonshire).