Ticket = £28
Petrol (circa £60/2) = £30
Bus to Anfield (one-way) = £2
Programme = £3
Pasta pot = £2-20
Hotel (£75/2) = £37-50
Tea = £2
Chips with gravy = £2-50
Parking (£12/2) = £6
Total = £113-20
We must be gluttons for punishment after the loss against Madrid, and the disappointment of frustrating travel delays, last week. This time, I was off work, and as it was half-term, we'd spent some time up in Cumbria before driving down to Merseyside. The weather on the way down was appalling, with rain sheeting down (think stair rods!) on large sections of the M6. We'd set off at 1.30pm but only arrived in Liverpool at around 5pm, pulling up on some what looked like some wasteland behind the Adelphi. There are times when you can see how far Liverpool has come as a city in recent years. There are others when you realise that some things never change. This piece of rocky and exposed wasteland was apparently the hotel car-park! After checking in, I moved the car to the safer and altogether nicer surroundings of the Q-park (which was virtually the same price).
As time was running short, and given our experiences last week, I was keen to get to the ground early. We arrived in good time, but not too early, with the roads filling up and people pouring towards Anfield. It was time for dinner, and we stood at the corner of the Kop and Main Stand eating our chips and gravy/curry sauce. Unfortunately, the football lifestyle doesn't always lend itself to healthy eating!
After locating the turnstile, and finding the toilets, it was time for a cup of tea. Then we made our way up to the very back of the Kop, where our seats were in block 306, near to where we'd been for the Oldham FA Cup game in January. The view from the furthest reaches of the Kop is strange to say the least - you can see the whole pitch well, but the Anfield Road end and bits of the Main Stand are largely obscured by the angled roof. Tonight was a completely different affair to the turgid game served up against Oldham. The players looked up for this one after the stalemate with Hull at the weekend. Even players like Borini and Markovic had busy, industrious games, with lots of surging runs down the flanks and through the middle. Coutinho looked more involved, and Lambert was on the ball a lot, getting it down and passing well, without getting too many shots on target. Of course, as so often happens at Anfield, the away team took the lead when Emnes hooked a goal past the rather poor Brad Jones on 65 minutes.
This was turning into a Chelsea-type scenario from last year, and more that I could name from the 2011-12 season (West Brom, Fulham...). Liverpool, however, always looked like scoring in this one, and finally equalised when Balotelli steered in Borini's cross on 87. The atmosphere was terrific, and you could tell the crowd were willing a second. This feeling increased when Swansea had a man sent off late on. As if the Kop had 'sucked the ball into the net', Liverpool made it 2-1 late on when Lovren headed in deep into injury time (+ 5 minutes apparently!). The Kop went wild, and for a rare occasion, I'd seen a great atmosphere at Anfield under the floodlights, result in a great performance and a great win. This took Liverpool on to a Quarter-final tie away at Bournemouth, where there is surely a opportunity to achieve something in this cup this year.
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