Hopes Riise-ing for Luton

Luton were handed a fortuetous equaliser when John Arne Riise’s deflected a cross back onto his arm and into the back of the net just minutes after an opener from Peter Crouch. It means the Hatters earn a money-spinning replay at Anfield.

Luton carved many chances but Drew Talbot missed on numerous occasions but it was he missed the ball that Riise inadvertently parried onto his own arm. Ryan Babel had one of Liverpool’s best oppurtunities inside 30 seconds when he used his pace before forcing a good save out of Dean Brill.

Kuyt’s attempted cross-cum-shot in the second half was almost put in by Yossi Benayoun but the Israeli missed from all of 6 yards. Talbot headed over from a similar position but it was all action in the final 20 minutes.

Substitute Andrei Voronin and Yossi Benayoun raced on to a Chris Perry blunder and the Ukranian saw his shot parried to the rushing Crouch who made up a lot of ground to slot home the opener. But two minutes later, disaster as a ball was played across goal. Riise hooked it back following Talbot’s failure to divert it past Itandje but saw it hit his arm unintentionally and go past the oncoming goalkeeper.

The struggling hatters held on and almost won it with an audacious volley from just outside the area which was dipping but they now can look forward to money from their tie at Anfield. Many fans snapped up tickets within minutes of the final whistle