Havant & Waterlooville earned a standing ovation from The Kop yesterday after a stunning performance against Premier League Liverpool. They lost 5-2 but, incredibly, they twice led their illustrious rivals.Before the match started Liverpool's fans applauded every Havant player's name when they were announced, and the non-League club's fans sang happily along with The Kop anthem You'll Never Walk Alone.
The Blue Square South league side, sitting 123 places below the seven-time FA Cup winners, were undaunted by the atmosphere of the 42,000 crowd and they made a dream start when they went ahead in the eighth minute through former QPR player Richard Pacquette.
It took 20 minutes for Leiva Lucas to put Liverpool level but the minnows were not fazed and continued to attack the hosts and, after 31 minutes, an Alfie Potter shot deflected in off Martin Skrtel to put Havant back in front.
Liverpool's £6.5million defender endured a horrible full-debut which began with an awful backpass that led to the stunning opening goal. From the resulting corner, delivered by gas fitter Mo Harkin, truant officer Richard Pacquette found the entire Liverpool defence wagging school and stooped to head the ball into the net. The away fans began singing the song about "que sera, sera" and going to Wembley, and the home crowd smiled indulgently.
Yossi Benayoun equalised again for Liverpool a minute before the break and went on to complete his hat-trick in the second half before Peter Crouch completed the scoring in the last minute.
At the final whistle the Havant players were applauded by all four sides of the ground and swapped shirts with relieved Liverpool stars.
Who are Havant & Waterlooville? Goalkeeper - Kevin Scriven: "Kevin is a builder off the pitch and works for his dad's company. He used to be on AFC's Bournemouth's books as a youngster and his best attribute as a keeper is his shot stopping.
Right-back - Justin Gregory: He's one of the most honest people you could meet and is fully committed to the cause. Away from football he's at college training to be a physio."
Centre-half - Jay Smith: "Jay works in planning and is an ex-Brentford apprentice.
Centre-half - Phil Warner: Away from football he is now a van driver."
Left-back - Tony Taggart: He works as a binman but used to be an apprentice at Brentford."
Centre-midfield - Jamie Collins: "Jamie is a primary school teacher and the captain of the team.
Centre-midfield - work for Brighton and Hove Albion on a scheme called, 'Albion in the Community'."
Striker - Rocky Baptiste: "Rocky is a Liverpool fan and training to be a London cabbie.
Striker - Richard Pacquette: "Richard is a school caretaker and the best way of describing him is to say that he has a lot of junk in his trunk.
Tom Jordan: "Tom is a personal fitness coach.
Havant & Waterlooville made $300,000 pounds from this match.
PROUD MANAGER
Havant manager Shaun Gale said he was a proud man."You have dreams and beliefs and we came here today and thought we might get something. We knew the enormity of the task but to be twice in front at Anfield takes some beating and not too many teams have done that," he told Sky Sports News.
"It would have been nice to go in 2-1 ahead at halftime but my lads have been magnificent today and I am proud of them. It has been a fairytale. It will be a long time before anyone else does anything like this."
