Roy Hodgson apologises for Liverpool’s League Cup exit
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has apologized to the club’s supporters following their embarrassing home defeat to Northampton in the Carling Cup last night.
The Merseysiders’ were knocked out on penalties by the League Two strugglers after they drew 2-2 in normal time. Cobblers’ youngster Abdul Osman kept his cool to net the winning penalty, a moment he won’t forget in a hurry, after David Ngog and Nathan Eccleston had both missed for the hosts.
“It’s a major setback for the club as a whole,” said the Liverpool manager.
“The Carling Cup is a competition we are capable of doing well in. It’s one of many setbacks we are facing at the moment. It’s a tough period to work and live through, but we will work and live through it and survive and get better. I’ll learn an awful lot tonight about this defeat about an awful lot of people.
“I can only congratulate Northampton and apologise to the fans who came here tonight. They expected us to win and so did we.”
It all looked set for a comfortable home win in the early stages, as Milan Jovanovic scored his first goal for the club after just nine minutes. Billy Makay drew the visitors’ level when he latched onto a knock-down to fire home past Brad Jones to send the game into extra time. The Cobblers looked to be heading for victory in extra-time when Michael Jacobs put them in front after some great wing-play by Courtney Herbert, but Ngog equalised just before full-time to send the game to spot kicks, where Northampton prevailed to the bemusement of the Anfield faithful.
Chelsea also suffered a surprise home defeat against Newcastle following a breathtaking clash in which Shola Ameobi netted a late winner. Patrick van Aanholt had given Chelsea the lead after just six minutes with his first goal for the club, but Nile Ranger drew Newcastle level on 27 minutes. Ryan Taylor, and then Ameobi drew Newcastle two goals clear, but a late double from Nicholas Anelka looked to be sending the game to extra-time. But Ameobi was to have the last laugh as he stooped to head home a Taylor corner in stoppage time to send the Blues crashing out.
West Brom also profited from a wasteful performance by one of the Premier League big boys as they beat Manchester City 2-1 at the Hawthorns. Gianni Zuiverloon and Simon Cox bagged the goals for the Baggies after Jo had given City an early lead.
Elsewhere there were also wins for Wigan and Aston Villa, who progressed to the next round with wins against Blackburn and Wigan, respectively.
The draw for the fourth round is set to take place on Saturday, live on Skysports News.
Carling Cup: Scunthorpe v Manchester United full time report
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