Richard Stearman’s early goal set Wolverhampton Wanderers on their way to a memorable Emirates FA Cup fourth round upset of Liverpool at Anfield but the centre-back claims the entire team’s defensive resilience was the key to the 2-1 victory.
Stearman headed the underdogs ahead less than a minute into proceedings and Andreas Weimann’s first goal for the club at the end of a slick counter-attack ensured Divock Origi’s late effort was not enough to deny Wolves a place in the fifth round for the first time since 2008.
The results mean Liverpool’s last three Emirates FA Cup losses at Anfield have all been to Championship opposition and Stearman – who is Wolverhampton born and bred – admits the feeling will stay with him for a long time.
“It’s incredible to get that early goal,” explained Stearman.
“We said we needed to start fast because we thought they would come out of the blocks. For us to get a goal so early was an incredible feeling.
“You can see the celebrations – look how many fans we brought – and it’s going to carry on late into the night. We’re delighted to be in the next round.
“You can’t take anything away from our defensive display though because we were incredible.
“The work-rate of the midfield and the strikers really protected us well and we limited them to shots from way out. That was the gameplan and we’re delighted with how it went.”
It took the Championship side just 53 seconds to take a surprise lead as Helder Costa whipped in a pinpoint free-kick from the right and Stearman guided a header into the far corner, past Loris Karius.
Costa almost made it 2-0 shortly after when he poked narrowly wide after a brilliant 70-yard run but Liverpool began to dominate possession and both Lucas Leiva and Roberto Firmino shot wide.
Yet, on 41 minutes, Wolves doubled their lead with a brilliant counter-attacking goal – Costa was again the architect as he drove at the Reds defence, rode an Alberto Moreno tackle and slid a perfectly-weighted through-ball to Weimann, who rounded Karius and tapped into the empty net.
Half-time substitute Philippe Coutinho registered Liverpool’s first shot on target after an hour but the visitors could have killed the game off 10 minutes from time when Karius saved Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s effort from point-blank range.
Instead, Origi slammed in from close-range on 85 minutes after Paul Lambert’s men failed to clear a corner.
Wolves goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne then brilliantly saved from Origi at the far post and they held on for a memorable victory – leaving boss Jurgen Klopp to bemoan the Reds’ sluggish start and the sub-par display that followed.
“It was a very bad performance,” said Klopp.
“We started badly and it didn’t really get better.
“There aren’t a lot of good things to say about this game and it’s difficult to explain. The start immediately gave them confidence and we were obviously not ready in this moment.
“We had the ball, gave it away, made a foul and gave them a free-kick. We weren’t good enough in the first half.
“The second half was better, of course, but it should be better because it wasn’t possible to be worse.”
Liverpool: 1 Loris Karius, 56 Connor Randall, 12 Joe Gomez, 17 Ragnar Klavan, 18 Alberto Moreno, 53 Ovie Ejaria, 21 Lucas Leiva, 5 Georginio Wijnaldum, 58 Ben Woodburn, 27 Divock Origi, 11 Roberto Firmino
Substitutes not used: 22 Simon Mignolet, 7 James Milner, 35 Kevin Stewart, 59 Harry Wilson
Manager: Jurgen Klopp
Goals: Origi 86
Wolves: 31 Harry Burgoyne, 16 Conor Coady, 5 Richard Stearman, 30 Kortney Hause, 2 Matt Doherty, 14 Lee Evans, 8 George Saville, 17 Helder Costa, 4 David Edwards, 63 Andreas Weimann, 9 Nouha Dicko
Substitutes: 43 Connor Ronan for Costa 67, 22 Jon Dadi Bodvarsson for Dicko 71, 10 Joe Mason for Weimann 77
Substitutes not used: 21 Andy Lonergan, 6 Danny Batth, 55 Morgan Gibbs-White, 26 Bright Enobakhare
Head coach: Paul Lambert
Goals: Stearman 1, Weimann 41
Referee: Craig Pawson
Attendance: 52,469
