Brave Preston North End fall to Liverpool
Fernando Torres scored on his comeback from injury
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Saturday, 03, Jan 2009 09:02
Liverpool held off a spirited Preston North End to claim a 3-0 win in the third round of the FA Cup at Deepdale this afternoon.
The Premier League leaders led thanks to a stunning Albert Riera strike and dominated the first-half. But they were forced to defend for much of the second-half as Preston came storming back.
The Championship side had a goal disallowed after Jamie Carragher was fouled in the area and as Preston looked for the equaliser, Liverpool went on the counter-attack and Fernando Torres scored a tap-in in stoppage time.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard started the game despite spending a night in jail earlier in the week as manager Rafael Benitez picked an almost fully-strength side with the exception of Torres, who was on the bench.
Preston were being roared on by a raucous home crowd and had the first effort on goal as winger Ross Wallace saw a curling free-kick from the edge of the box well saved by Diego Cavalieri.
It was one-way traffic from that point as Liverpool dominated. Robbie Keane's so far disappointing Liverpool career continued as he wasted a number of good chances, the best of which came when Riera put him through on goal, only for the striker to fire wide.
Riera was the centre of attention moments later as he turned outside the Preston penalty area and thundered the ball into the top right-hand corner of the goal.
Liverpool would have expected to continue on the front foot in the second-half and ease to a comfortable win, but that was far from the case.
Preston had their tails up for much of the second period and thought they had equalised after 72 minutes. Sean St Ledger headed the ball home, but Jon Parkin was penalised for pulling down Carragher in the lead up to the goal.
Liverpool managed to seal the win with a late goal as Gerrard broke free and unselfishly squared the ball to Torres who scored his first FA Cup goal.