Adam Pepper'S lob from the half-way line was only enough to earn Liverpool under-18s a point as they drew 2-2 with Blackburn Rovers at the Kirkby Academy on Saturday.
Captain Joe Kennedy had leveled for Liverpool level after Blackburn had taken the lead. Then 17-year-old midfielder Pepper put Hugh McAuley's side 2-1 ahead on 55 minutes with a Xabi Alonso-style effort that deserved to be a match-winning strike. Sadly Blackburn hit back to earn a point.
Blackburn took the lead on 35 minutes when Michael Hall fired in after a quick breakaway.
Three minutes after the break, though, Kennedy came in at the back post to head in the equaliser from Pepper's corner. And soon after McAuley's side took the lead when the Liverpool-born Pepper scored his superb effort to deceive the keeper with a lob from around 45 yards.
But on 64 minutes Rovers equalised when Tom Hitchcock pounced to score.
McAuley felt his side should have won, but he said: "It was a good game and a good performance. It was a decent game of football because I thought they played well also.
"We were 1-0 down but came back and led. The goals were two individual mistakes and that cost us the result. It was a game we should have won. We had a lot of the possession and created some decent chances."
Liverpool will look to return to winning ways at Leeds United this Saturday (kick-off 11am) and will play Birmingham City in the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup. Birmingham went through courtesy of a 1-0 win at St Andrews last night.
The first leg will be at Anfield with the second leg in Birmingham, but not dates have been finalised.
The other two-legged semi-final will see holders Manchester City take on six-time winners Arsenal, with the first leg at Eastlands tomorrow.
LIVERPOOL UNDER-18s: Hansen; Scott, Wisdom, Kennedy, Buchtmann; Amoo, Roberts, Pepper, Ince; Eccleston, Clair (Robinson 66). Subs: Cooper, Chamberlain, Roberts-Nurse.
Captain Joe Kennedy had leveled for Liverpool level after Blackburn had taken the lead. Then 17-year-old midfielder Pepper put Hugh McAuley's side 2-1 ahead on 55 minutes with a Xabi Alonso-style effort that deserved to be a match-winning strike. Sadly Blackburn hit back to earn a point.
Blackburn took the lead on 35 minutes when Michael Hall fired in after a quick breakaway.
Three minutes after the break, though, Kennedy came in at the back post to head in the equaliser from Pepper's corner. And soon after McAuley's side took the lead when the Liverpool-born Pepper scored his superb effort to deceive the keeper with a lob from around 45 yards.
But on 64 minutes Rovers equalised when Tom Hitchcock pounced to score.
McAuley felt his side should have won, but he said: "It was a good game and a good performance. It was a decent game of football because I thought they played well also.
"We were 1-0 down but came back and led. The goals were two individual mistakes and that cost us the result. It was a game we should have won. We had a lot of the possession and created some decent chances."
Liverpool will look to return to winning ways at Leeds United this Saturday (kick-off 11am) and will play Birmingham City in the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup. Birmingham went through courtesy of a 1-0 win at St Andrews last night.
The first leg will be at Anfield with the second leg in Birmingham, but not dates have been finalised.
The other two-legged semi-final will see holders Manchester City take on six-time winners Arsenal, with the first leg at Eastlands tomorrow.
LIVERPOOL UNDER-18s: Hansen; Scott, Wisdom, Kennedy, Buchtmann; Amoo, Roberts, Pepper, Ince; Eccleston, Clair (Robinson 66). Subs: Cooper, Chamberlain, Roberts-Nurse.
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