Football

Liverpool out of FA Cup as Plymouth pull off stunning upset to end quadruple talk


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Plymouth, bottom of the Championship, stunned the Premier League leaders (HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)

Plymouth Argyle have pulled off a sensational FA Cup upset after dumping Liverpool out of the competition in the fourth round.

The Pilgrims, sat bottom of the Championship with just one league win in three months, outfought the Premier League leaders at Home Park to seal a memorable 1-0 victory over the side sat 44 places above them.

Ryan Hardie was the hero for the hosts, stepping up to slam home a penalty after 53 minutes after Harvey Elliot was penalised for handball.

After taking the lead, the Championship side dug in, defending heroically to keep out the opposition and claim their first win over the Reds since 1956.

Among the many standout stars in green, Niola Kalic gave a colossal performance at the back, keeping Liverpool at bay with a string of defensive clearances despite losing a tooth early in the contest after a collision with his own teammate.

Just as talk of an unprecedented quadruple for Liverpool was beginning to bubble again, Arne Slot paid the price for leaving out some of his star names.

Alisson, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah were among the senior Liverpool stars given the afternoon off.

Joe Gomez was also forced off early with injury with Darwin Nunez his only experienced option off the bench as his side chased the game.

Plymouth fans were forced to endure nine minutes of gut-wrenching added time with Connor Hazard in their goal producing a superb save to deny Diogo Jota from range.

Hazard was called into action again right at the death, producing another remarkable stop to deny Nunez as his side clung on to a historic win.

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