Matt Smith with his overwhelming physical presence bullied Martin Skrtel and Sebastian Coates every time the ball was floated his way. His opener for Oldham came after both halves were in great position to defend Youssuf M'Changama's cross but Smith just outmuscled Coates to head the ball into goal.
Oldham's ground game was equally forceful as Daniel Sturridge found out as he was bundled of the ball illegally and on the break, Oldham surged forward as Reece Webara receiving a pass wide right sent in a routine cross that was spilled by Brad Jones. It came to Robbie Simpson who pinged his pass across the goalmouth to Smith for a simple tap in and his second goal.
Luis Suarez's equalizer shows a player who is in a different orbit altogether from his team mates. That was all Suarez and it is difficult to find someone wilier, more elusive in this league. He manipulates an Oldham defender into a return pass and then sweeps the ball past Dean Bouzanis superbly. The Uruguayan also had a goal disallowed for being offside from a free kick. The Latics added to their lead after Webara rose above the Liverpool defense to power Carl Winchester's looping cross past Jones.
Joe Allen's volley of a misplaced clearance took a lucky deflection for Liverpool's second goal. Oldham had to defend stoutly as Liverpool mounted a late charge with Steven Gerrard's thunderous pile driver shaking the upright into a minor seismic event. With that close call, one knew the giantkiller theme was going to continue. Just as the breaks did not go Mansfield Town's way in the third round, this time it was the Merseyside team at the receiving end. Karma.
Oldham are not exactly creating waves in League One competition stuck firmly in relegation zone and having lost seven of their last 8 matches. This was a huge booster for Paul Dickov's team. Congratulations.
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