\n<\/p>\n
But actually it\u2019s the Hammers who hit back. With 64 on the clock, full-back Paul Konchesky\u2019s misjudged cross from the left wing floats over a flailing Reina to land in the Reds\u2019 goal.<\/p>\n
Kopites in the stands and watching around the world go through the rituals as the next 25 minutes elapse: a prayer, crossed fingers, a shout at the television screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust score, Liverpool. Please just score.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the amount of added time to be played is announced inside the stadium \u2013 four minutes \u2013 Gerrard has little left. An energy-sapping contest on a hot near-summer day has left its mark.<\/p>\n
So when a clearance comes out towards him more than 35 yards from goal, he decides to just thump it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy best ever goal,\u201d Gerrard will later write of what follows, which is a hugely ambitious attempt to score.<\/p>\n
His connection with the ball is perfect, lacing it with speed and power through the crowded area and, incredibly, aimed exactly into the bottom left corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf my legs hadn\u2019t been riddled with cramp, I would have brought the ball down and tried to build an attack,\u201d Gerrard continues in his subsequent memoir.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a long way out. Too far to shoot, surely? Come on! Be realistic! There had to be too many bodies in the way? But the cramp made up my mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI looked at the ball. \u2018It\u2019s set decent,\u2019 I told myself. \u2018So have a go, try to hit the target. Nothing to lose, Stevie.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The fatigue is such that his celebration is limited to a delighted and relieved tap of the name on the back of his shirt. The name this final will be known by.<\/p>\n
Into extra-time.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s goalkeeper has, in his own words, been \u2018rubbish\u2019 up to this point of the match, but his moments come too.<\/p>\n
Reina produces a vital reaction save to tip Nigel Reo-Coker\u2019s header onto the post and out. Marlon Harewood skews the rebound wide and the 3-3 scoreline leads to penalties.<\/p>\n
In the shootout, Reina makes three stops, with the last, from Anton Ferdinand, confirming it will be Liverpool FC etched on the famous trophy for the seventh time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
But actually it\u2019s the Hammers who hit back. With 64 on the clock, full-back Paul<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeeworld.name.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}