Aston Villa 3 Liverpool 4
Liverpool emerged from a wretched Premiership slump to reach the Worthington Cup semi-finals with a remarkable 4-3 win at Aston Villa tonight.
The Anfield club have lost four straight games in the league to fall to fifth in the table, but two goals from Danny Murphy and one each from Milan Baros and Steven Gerrard at Villa Park lifted the gloom.
Dion Dublin thought he had forced extra time after levelling at 3-3 with six minutes remaining, but in the second minute of injury time Murphy struck again to stun Villa.
Villa had taken the lead with a Darius Vassell penalty and German Thomas Hitzlsperger made it 3-2 in the second half of a match delayed for one hour 20 minutes because of crowd congestion.
Liverpool, six-time winners of the competition, join Manchester United, holders Blackburn Rovers and first division Sheffield United in the last four.
Semi-final draw:
Manchester United v Blackburn
Sheffield United v Liverpool
(Ties to be played over two legs in the weeks beginning January 6th and January 20th.