Liverpool Reserves 3 Blackburn Rovers Reserves 3

YOUNG substitute Gary Hamilton missed a late penalty after Rovers reserves staged a brave fightback from 3-1 down.

Against a powerful Liverpool side featuring Robbie Fowler, Titi Camara, Steve Staunton, Phil Babb, Stig Inge Bjornebye and Jamie Carragher, Rovers did enough to win the game.

Manager Terry Darracott said: "It was an unbelievable game. I thought we were going to get a hiding after the first half but our lads deserve a lot of credit."

Fowler opened the scoring, reacting first after his own header hit the post.

Then right winger John Newby made it two follwoing a mazy dribble that beat three Rovers defenders. But Matt Jansen pulled one back with an excellent finish following a David Dunn through ball.

Liverpool stretched their lead, again through Newby, after the break but Rovers came back strongly.

Wayne Gill finished excellently after breaking from midfield to make it 3-2. Then, with 15 minutes remaining, Dunn curled a free kick over the wall to level the scores.

Hamilton, who replaced the hard-working James Thomas on 70 minutes, was brought down to earn a penalty with five minutes left but Brad Friedel saved the poorly executed spot kick.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.