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It’s pretty much an anomaly, but having seen County over all these years, and getting on for two thousand games, with very few missed, certainly over the last 30 years, that in that time we have played Liverpool 4 times, and I have only seen the one. The first two, an FA Cup tie and replay in 1965, were deemed by my parents, (who were unable to accompany me), to be too big an occasion to attend alone at the tender age of 10. It had to be radio coverage, with the two games recounted in my post “An Epic Cup Tie” which is one of 4 pieces which look at the FA Cup run of 1964/65.

Nineteen years later, and not banking on us getting past the first round of the League Cup, I had booked a holiday in Tenerife on the scheduled week of the second round. It was therefore with some exasperation that the second round draw, (after beating Rochdale in the first round), set us up for a two legged tie with the then champions, Liverpool. The tale of how I managed to find the result of the first leg at EP is told in my piece on Anfield. It was a scoreless draw, and gave some hope that the return game would enable us to put up a good show.

And a good show it was … and that’s putting it mildly. I opted for a seat in the Kemlyn Road stand, almost opposite the players tunnel, and about 15 rows from the front. Sitting there and taking in the place in the 30 minutes or so before kick-off, the reflection was that this was a bit different. It was certainly different from our normal habitat around Division 4.

The famous Kop stood to the left. Huge in itself, and equally impressive, it seemingly stretched back almost forever. It of course had, and continues to have, a reputation just as big. At the time it was still all standing and held nearly 22,000 when tested to capacity. Not that the gatemen that evening were rushed off their feet.

A League Cup tie against one of English football’s perennial strugglers was hardly going to drag all the but the most hardy and loyal Liverpool fans from their armchair. It was their third home game in a week and the fare they had been offered in the weeks before the game had hardly pulled up any trees. At that point they lay 11th in Division 1, having lost to Sheffield Wednesday and drawn with West Brom in their two previous games. Taking away the County following barely 10,000 home fans made their way. So it was a little strange to see the Kop, normally packed and a swaying mass, pretty sparsely occupied.

Avoiding humiliation was the objective. Achieving it was surely out of the question. But County so nearly did. Liverpool emerged with an array of household names – Grobbelaar; Lawrenson: Neal; Nicol; Gillespie; Kennedy; Wark; Whelan; Dalglish; Robinson; Walsh; Sub Molby. The Hatters had the usual threadbare squad. Six of the team that turned out were fixtures for the season playing in the majority of games, and Oshor Williams would have made it seven had he not departed for Port Vale within a month of the game. It was a side which would, at the end of the season, have to go cap in hand with a re-election plea. Liverpool, the reigning champions at the time, would go on to be runners-up – 88 places above County.

And yet, despite the odds, County put up a magnificent performance. Having held out against the much vaunted Liverpool attack at Edgeley they repeated it. 0-0 at the end of 90 minutes and it hadn’t only been a case of heroic defence, they had looked positive going forward. It did tell in extra time, however, as goals from Whelan and Robinson, broke County hearts. So near and so far. But a performance of which that the 12 on view, plus manager Eric Webster, and the County following could rightly be very proud.

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Anfield memories

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THE GAMES

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Where the date is in bold click for highlights of the game

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	Date	Venue	Ground	Competition		F	A	Att:
Tues	09/10/84	a	Anfield	Milk Cup (Round 2 – 2nd Leg)	L	0	2	13,422

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