"Besides, the number of games they play in the Premiership is enormous.". On a night of tumbling records in an extraordinary Worthington Cup tie, Liverpool established a club-record away win and Stoke suffered the heaviest defeat in their four years at the Britannia Stadium, which also housed its biggest crowd to date. On a night of tumbling records in an extraordinary Worthington Cup tie, Liverpool established a club-record away win and Stoke suffered the heaviest defeat in their four years at the Britannia Stadium, which also housed its biggest crowd to date. A Robbie Fowler hat-trick, taking his tally to 25 goals in 29 games in this competition, spearheaded Liverpool's drive into the quarter-finals. Their manager, Gérard Houllier, now has the chance to pit his wits against his fellow Frenchman, Jean Tigana, when Fulham visit Anfield.Liverpool's victory confused the scoreboard operator to the extent that it finished the match displaying a 9-0 scoreline.

Even with a Florida-style adjustment, the result overhauled the 7-0 defeat of Crewe which had stood as the best on their travels since 1896.Stoke kept the score below 10-0, which has remained their worst indignity for the 111 years since it was inflicted by Preston. However, the 7-0 humiliation inflicted by Birmingham in 1998, the inaugural season at their home of the past four seasons, was overtaken with six minutes to spare.It was no consolation to Stoke's supporters, either in the Potteries or in Reykjavik, which took the tie "live" on television due to the interest generated by the Second Division club's Icelandic ownership, that the margin flattered Liverpool. Stoke were repeatedly betrayed by non-existent marking, yet a corner count of 10-5 in their favour gave an indication of their positive part in the spectacle.The only other sell-out crowd at the venue was attracted by Bon Jovi. Most of the 27,000 present on this occasion savoured a frenetic start by Stoke which had Liverpool's defence living on a prayer, but their ardour was dampened by the Premiership side's ability to pick them off on the counter-attack.A Stoke side who could not score in 180 minutes against non-League Nuneaton in the FA Cup earlier in the month embarrassed Liverpool's all-international back line by creating four chances in the opening 10 minutes.

The visitors' greatest escape, in only the fourth minute, stemmed from a goalkeeping error by Pegguy Arphexad.Along with the 20-year-old winger, Richie Partridge, who received his senior debut along with the substitute Steven Wright, Arphexad had been called up as Houllier rested key players. His rustiness showed when he miscontrolled Jamie Carragher's back-pass and was dispossessed by Peter Thorne.The Stoke striker took aim at an unguarded goal, only to see the ball rebound into play off the far post. The home faithful were still wondering whether the miss might prove costly as Liverpool provided the answer.Fowler, exploiting the space behind Stoke's right wing-back for the first but far from final time, crossed for Christian Ziege to score from close range.Stoke no sooner lost Mikael Hansson to injury midway through the first half than Liverpool hit them with two goals in three minutes. Markus Babbel launched a long pass that enabled Vladimir Smicer to slip in unattended to double the lead.Another Fowler pass from wide on the left gave Babbel a simple tap-in to make it 3-0. Any Stoke illusions of a fightback were shattered by a fourth goal as half-time approached. Gary McAllister's corner was flicked on by Sami Hyypia, giving Fowler a free header at the back post.To their credit, Stoke began the second half as they had the first, coming close on three occasions before Liverpool broke out to score with their first shot. Danny Murphy's 58th-minute cross gifted Hyypia another soft goal.Amazingly, Carl Muggleton had not made a save worth the name before stopping Ziege's 61st-minute shot.