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Fraser Forster fumbled and Liverpool were 20 per cent towards getting the goal they desperately needed. It wasn’t enough. The ball needs to be 100 per cent over the line and, somehow, Forster recovered to claw it away.
His dramatic retrieval proved the turning point of the game and summed up a night of magnificent resilience from Southampton. They even won the match, in the end, through a breakaway and Shane Long in the last minute, but it was the 45 minutes before that, when Liverpool threw everything at them, that made this their night.
That period included not just Forster’s rescue act, but one of the tackles of the season from Jack Stephens, standing in for the injured Virgil van Dijk. Stephens, 22, was outstanding here after a nervous beginning.
With Southampton having sold Jose Fonte to West Ham, Van Dijk’s injury could not have come at a worst time, but Stephens ensured there was no consequence. In the circumstances it was a giant nil. A big fat zero.
And a huge achievement for the club and coach Claude Puel, considering another rebuilding job was required after more summer, and winter, sales. Southampton will now meet Manchester United or Hull — most likely United – to decide the first trophy of the season. It is a long time since they won a trophy — 1976, in an FA Cup final against Manchester United — but do not bet against a repeat.
This was a mighty, brave display, surviving a second-half onslaught, conjuring enough chances to win the game by half-time, and then winning it anyway to negate any lingering possibility of one of those famous Anfield comebacks.
It was a typical late goal against a team chasing the game. A Liverpool move broke down, Josh Sims broke away and Long broke the hearts of the locals with a smart finish that put a significant aggregate distance between the teams.
That Stephens had just made a quite outstanding tackle on Divock Origi only added to the sense of triumph for Southampton. Origi fell dramatically and Jurgen Klopp complained furiously, but he was wrong.
Referee Martin Atkinson’s decision was as clean as Stephens’ winning of the ball. There was more of a case for a handball against Long in the 84th minute, although it looked worse via replay than it did in real time.
Yet it was Emre Can’s shot after 53 minutes that was the game’s most significant event, bearing in mind a goalless draw would have seen Southampton progress just the same.
Perhaps the ball caught the icy wind and fooled Forster, who let it slip from his grasp. It looked certain to cross the line, only for the Southampton man to recover and somehow drag it back to safety. What a precision movement it turned out to be, too, somehow avoiding the woodwork, Daniel Sturridge and an unlucky ricochet from his own man.
Technology showed around one fifth of the ball over the line. Maybe in the old days the will of The Kop would have seen it given by an impressionable official. Another ghost goal. It is good to know the system works, then — on the goal-line at least.
Yet to imply the match was all Liverpool does Southampton a disservice. Had they taken their first-half chances the match would have been over before the break. For 45 minutes, Southampton had the best chances, the best shape and the better organisation.
Forster was barely threatened and Nathan Redmond threatened to run riot down the left. Southampton kept their passing tight with the wind in their faces — the conditions were no friend to the ambitious — and had the first opportunity of the game after 13 minutes, a well-worked move from right to left, James Ward-Prowse finding Redmond and eventually putting in Ryan Bertrand, whose shot struck the side-netting.
Southampton seemed to be targeting the left flank, and the youthful Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was game but had two flying machines to contend with in Bertrand and Redmond. In the 29th minute, Bertrand whipped in a dangerous cross, which a flaky Dejan Lovren headed out low when a kicked clearance would have been perfectly adequate.
The ball fell to Steven Davis, whose shot was blocked on the way to goal. But Southampton had sensed a way in, or rather Redmond had.
In the space of three late first-half minutes he took Liverpool’s defence on in numbers. Two brilliant runs, red shirts trailing in his wake. A clip and he could have gone down and earned his side a penalty but to his credit he had higher aspirations.
Sadly, on both occasions, team-mates failed him. First, after 37 minutes, Redmond sped into the area, stayed on his feet and slipped the ball inside to Dusan Tadic.
Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius has been much criticised this season but this time he was quite brilliant, coming off his line with the urgency of a fire engine dashing to a burning factory and smothering Tadic’s shot, which seemed a certain goal.
From the next attack, Redmond did it again — another marauding run, Liverpool’s defence helpless, his team-mate wasteful. This time it was Davis, taking a touch to control before blasting over the bar.
The second half, as one would expect, was a siege. Wave after wave of Liverpool pressure, willed on by the home crowd, their voices swirling around Anfield in a chill breeze. Daniel Sturridge could have scored twice in four minutes, Philippe Coutinho another a minute later.
Fans know what Liverpool players are capable of. Istanbul, the 2006 FA Cup final, last season’s epic against Borussia Dortmund. Southampton were at full stretch to resist them.
In the 59th minute, an excellent James Milner cross bobbled and rebounded around the area, unwilling to be cleared.
It fell, eventually, to Sturridge on the volley, twisting in the air, close to goal. He could not get it down, and his shot flew well over.
Soon after, Sturridge again, meeting a cross from Jordan Henderson with a delayed run into the area. Over again. Finally, an Adam Lallana cross from the right reached Coutinho on the volley from a good position.
He attempted a flick into the far corner but got his angles wrong. It travelled harmlessly wide, nearer the flag than the net.
So Southampton are first to Wembley this season, while Liverpool will rue another missed opportunity. Since their last trophy, they have lost three finals, three semi-finals and finished second in the league.
Klopp smiled and congratulated the victors at the end, but if something does not give soon, it will begin to look a little forced.
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