Late Williams own goal sees Liverpool youngsters through against Shrewsbury

A late Ro-Shaun Williams own goal saw Liverpool’s young side through to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Shrewsbury.

The centre half nodded it into his own net in the 75th minute.

Shrewsbury thought they had taken the lead just before the hour mark when Shaun Whalley got the ball in the net – but VAR intervened to rule it out for offside.

With U23s manager Neil Critchley in charge in the absence of Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool starting line-up had an average age of 19 years and 102 days – their youngest-ever line-up to start a match in all competitions, with no recognised first-teamers on the bench either due to the scheduled Premier League winter break.

“I think whatever team Liverpool puts out we’ll give everything we’ve got and leave everything on that pitch,” said right-back Neco Williams afterwards.

“That’s what we’ve been doing this season, as you can tell from the league, and from when the young lads have stepped in and got results against the likes of Everton, Arsenal and obviously today.”

The Reds now head to Chelsea in the next round.