Liverpool - 5 (Smicer 13. Murphy 15. 51. Biscan 18. Fowler 89.)
Crystal Palace - 0

The match report for the first leg of this tie started with the single word "Wow", but the tables were completely turned in this, the second leg. Having survived for almost the first quarter of an hour, despite the fact that the home side had made at least three attempts on goal including a great save by Alex Kolinko from a Danny Murphy shot, the match was about to be shot down in flames. In just a five-minute period Liverpool turned on the style and put three goals past us without a reply. First Robbie Fowler played Vladimir Smicer into space and he coolly slotted the ball home, then Jari Litmanen made space for Murphy to power home a shot; and the final nail in the burst of pressure saw Fowler cleverly play a backheeled pass to Igor Biscan who made no mistake. From this point on the match was all but dead and buried, and any sane Palace supporter might simply have given up the ghost and gone home. Of course, Palace supporters are a resilient lot, and having spent so much in actually getting to the ground they were not about to waste the opportunity to cheer their side on for the full 90 minutes.

Palace finally got somewhere near the goal when Sander Westerveld fumbled the ball, but the chance was gone almost as quickly as it was created. A magnificent shot from Gary McAllister hit the upright when it looked destined for the back of the net, and the 4,000 Palace contingent breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Shortly after the half hour mark Simon Rodger hit a shot just wide of the post, and shortly before half time Tommy Black hit an excellent free kick that Westerveld just managed to tip over the top of the bar.

So, half time arrived, Palace went to the break to lick their wounds, and presumably Liverpool went to the dressing rooms to make plans for their trip to the Centennial Stadium on 25 February!

Within five minutes of the restart Palace had fallen a further goal behind when Murphy slotted home his second of the game following a great solo run through the defence, and if the Palace contingent harboured any thoughts of getting back into the game they were surely all dashed now. A good move on the Liverpool goal saw Clinton Morrison totally miss the ball with his left foot when he surely should have scored, then his right-footed attempt was smothered by the keeper. This was probably about the only time that the Liverpool crowd cheered anything that Clinton had done all evening, the rest of the time they simply booed him every time he got anywhere near the ball.

A flurry of substitutions then took place, but Palace were to appreciate later in the game that they kept one sub up their sleeve. That moment arrived with about 7 minutes left to run in the match when Fowler got clear once more on goal, with Kolinko rapidly closing down the distance. His tackle on Fowler was clumsy to say the least, and as he was outside his area and the last line of defence he was promptly shown a red card, and was off for an early shower. The referee looked almost apologetic at having to send him off, but the rules do not allow for any other decision. Our final substitution brought Matthew Gregg on for Mikael Forssell, and though we were down to 10 men it was immediately apparent that there was a lot of singing going on around the ground. The amazing part of this was that it soon became evident that it was the Palace fans that were singing whilst the normally noisy Liverpool crowd were eerily silent.

With only three minutes left Black almost got a consolation goal, but Westerveld was quick off his line, closing down the chance. As we all thought the match was over Fowler finally managed to grab his own consolation goal when he placed the ball under the diving Gregg, and the match finished right on time with no addition for any injury time. Apart from the red card no other cards were "awarded" to either side, and though Liverpool comprehensively won the tie the record books will always show that we played twice against the Premiership side, and it finished one game apiece.

At least now Palace will be able to concentrate on their League position with their Cup runs ended for this season, and hopefully we can now cruise along to a nice comfortable position early on in the proceedings, so that the long suffering fans can stop being concerned about relegation earlier than is usually the case.

Well done Palace, we all appreciate the effort, and the accolades you gave our supporters at the end of the match. Here's looking forward to the West Brom match in 10 days time.

Colin Pryce

Liverpool: Sander Westerveld, Steve Gerrard (Dietmar Hamann 68), Jamie Carragher (Christian Ziege 76), Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, Igor Biscan, Danny Murphy, Jari Litmanen, Gary McAllister, Robbie Fowler, Vladimir Smicer (Nick Barmby 70).

Substitutes not used: Jorgen Nielsen, Emile Heskey.

Crystal Palace: Alex Kolinko, Jamie Smith, Craig Harrison, Dean Austin, Steve Thomson, Wayne Carlisle (Jamie Pollock 57), Andrejs Rubins (Julian Gray 75), Simon Rodger, Tommy Black, Mikael Forssell (Matthew Gregg 83), Clinton Morrison.

Substitutes not used: Neil Ruddock, Stephen Kabba.

Attendance: 41,854

Referee: Mr P Durkin (Dorset)