Sport

Liverpool stroke 8 past Stoke

Robbie Fowler grabbed a hat-trick as Liverpool destroyed Stoke 8-0 at the Britannia Stadium last night

Thu Nov 30 2000 - 00:00

Robbie Fowler grabbed a hat-trick as Liverpool destroyed Stoke 8-0 at the Britannia Stadium last night. Gerard Houllier's side ran riot after a shaky start to silence a 27,500-capacity crowd.

Christian Ziege opened the scoring after Peter Thorne had missed a sitter for the home side, and Vladimir Smicer, Markus Babbel, Sami Hyypia and Danny Murphy completed the carnage.

Fowler made it seven when he found himself in a similar position to the previous goal but instead took the direct route to the net. A minute later substitute Barmby was tripped in the box and Fowler stepped up to complete his hat-trick.

At Craven Cottage, Louis Saha set Fulham on course for a mouthwatering quarter-final tie with the Merseysiders with a last-gasp winner to settle a cracking tie with Derby 3-2. Jim Smith's struggling Premiership side had taken the lead on 12 minutes through Malcolm Christie, but the home side levelled through Saha on 27 minutes and Eddie Lewis put them deservedly in front on 38 minutes.

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Darryl Powell's cross turned into a shot on the tricky breeze as Fulham goalkeeper Maik Taylor misjudged the swirling effort to put Derby level at half-time.

But as extra-time beckoned Saha rose highest to send a looping header over Mart Poom.

Their quarter-final opponents were already decided but it looked as though it was going to take extra-time to separate these two sides despite several chances for the winning goal, most of those going to Derby.

Higginbotham fired straight at Taylor, Burton fired wide and Taylor then sprinted from his line to bravely save at the feet of Johnson after Higginbotham's superb through ball.

At the other end Saha brought another fine save from Poom as time ran out and it looked as though the crowd were in for another 30 minutes.

But with virtually the last kick of the game Saha set up a quarter-final tie with Liverpool, connecting with Goldbaek's free-kick to send a looping header over the despairing Poom.

At Main Road, Shaun Goater's late strike secured Manchester City's 2-1 win over Wimbledon. It set up a last eight clash with Ipswich. Andy Roberts had put the Dons ahead before Paulo Wanchope equalised before the break.