London - Captain Steven Gerrard scored twice
to rescue Liverpool from FA Cup
embarrassment and lead them into the fourth
round after a tricky 2-1 win at fourth tier AFC
Wimbledon on Monday.
In the night's other Cup match, Premier
League strugglers Burnley fought back from a
goal down at Turf Moor to draw 1-1 with
Tottenham Hotspur and force a replay to
decide who then takes on Leicester City.
Liverpool will move on to play second tier
Bolton Wanderers in the next round but only
after a night of living dangerously with
determined League Two opponents who looked
far from overawed.
"That was a very tough game," Liverpool
manager Brendan Rodgers told the BBC. "We
lost our sort of shape within the game and
presented them with chances by giving the
ball away.
"We had to defend right the way through to
the end."
Gerrard, in his first match since announcing
his departure for the United States at the end
of the season, had headed the opener in the
12th minute as Liverpool looked set for a
comfortable win.
But the match at Kingsmeadow, reviving
memories of 1988 when the original
Wimbledon 'Crazy Gang' beat Liverpool in a
hard-tackling final at Wembley, refused to
follow the script.
Lifelong Liverpool fan Adebayo Akinfenwa, a
stocky striker nicknamed 'The Beast', had the
home fans dreaming when he poked in a 36th
minute equaliser from close range after some
woeful defending by the Merseysiders.
The hefty 32-year-old, who has played for 11
clubs in a journeyman career around the
lower leagues, was perfectly placed to cash in
after the ball bounced back off the bar
following a goalmouth scramble.
With a major upset looking possible, and
Wimbledon missing several clear chances,
Gerrard settled nerves with a curling free kick
into the top corner in the 62nd minute.
"I always enjoy the FA Cup, I grew up loving
the competition and to play in it. It's going to
be my last time and I want to make the most
of it and try and go all the way," the
midfielder, who turns 35 on Cup final day, told
the BBC.
"It's the beauty of the FA Cup," added Gerrard
of Wimbledon's spirited performance. "It
doesn't matter where you are, in what league,
form seems to go out of the window and it
becomes a leveller.
"Fair play to them. I think their manager can
be very proud of them. They gave us a real
test."
Burnley's match against in-form Spurs brought
back memories of the 1962 final, won by
Tottenham, but there was little glamour in a
dire first half.
Spurs took the lead through a Nacer Chadli
strike from close range in the 52nd minute but
Sam Vokes side-footed in an equaliser in the
73rd.
"It was a lacklustre game, with little
atmosphere. We did everything to try and get
a result," said Burnley manager Sean Dyche of
a match watched by a crowd of only 9,348
spectators.
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