FA CUP/Liverpool 1 Barnsley 2:The Liverpool manager, Rafael Benitez, has suffered plenty of slings and arrows throughout this campaign, many from his American employer, but here the Spaniard was entirely culpable for his own discomfort.

Luton Town plus the amateurs of Havant & Waterlooville have witnessed more meagre offerings from Liverpool this season than Barnsley did. That their best 90-minute performance in this year's FA Cup was insufficient to overcome a side 14th in the Championship, and with only one away win in 16 league attempts, speaks of a lack of quality.

That Benitez rolled out the same old story following another sterile home performance of wasted chances and strange selections, particularly the decision to rest Jose Reina for the calamitous Charles Itandje and withdraw the threatening Ryan Babel, told of a team and manager unwilling or unable to learn from mistakes.

As the Liverpool manager's wife, Montse, threw a protective red blanket into her padded seat and made a swift, thunderous exit from the directors' box, Anfield reverberated to jeers and condemnation.

There was a notable exception in the 6,000 from Yorkshire and a delirious Dickie Bird, who shook with incredulity at a victory that reaffirmed the value of this competition.

"I'm absolutely stunned. It's tremendous," said the former cricket umpire. "I have supported Barnsley for 65 years and that is the best result I have seen. Liverpool couldn't put the ball in the net. Our goalkeeper did very well but it was an amazing performance all round. I was more nervous watching that than walking out in a Test match at Calcutta in front of 120,000."

Bird's verdict on Barnsley's stunning passage to the quarter-finals was as accurate as any lbw decision. Then, as now, he did not require Hawk-Eye to gauge the run of the ball.

Liverpool were dominant. Ahead through Dirk Kuyt's simple finish before the break, they twice hit the crossbar, had five attempts cleared off the line and met an inspired goalkeeper in Luke Steele two days after his emergency loan arrival from West Bromwich Albion.

But the Barnsley manager's role in "the best moment of my career" should not be overlooked, as the decision to sign Steele and to empower his attack with the introduction of Kayode Odejayi changed the course of this result.

"It's been a mad scramble for the last two weeks to get someone in who could play at this sort of level," admitted Davey, forced to scour the market after injury struck the regular keeper Heinz Muller with the on-loan Tony Warner Cup-tied.

"I think the board were panicking more than me. I kept saying to them, 'Don't worry, we'll be okay', and we jumped at the chance when we realised we could get Luke."

For the former Manchester United trainee Steele an inspired display topped by magnificent stops from Kuyt and Yossi Benayoun remedied his last Anfield experience.

"I was here with United a few years ago as cover for Edwin van der Sar on the day Alan Smith broke his leg," recalled the goalkeeper, who is not guaranteed a starting role at Norwich City this weekend.

"That was a dreadful day and so it's good to come here and wipe those memories away."

At the opposite end Itandje was a liability. The Frenchman was caught off his line as the defender Stephen Foster met an immaculate cross from Martin Devaney with a soaring header to equalise. Then, in the 93rd and final minute, he was caught out at the near post as Barnsley's outstanding captain, Brian Howard, drilled an 18-yard shot into the Kop goal.

But Itandje was far from an isolated weakness in the Liverpool ranks.

Howard had been denied a clear penalty seconds before his strike for Oakwell immortality but what would then have been a tale of favouritism towards the big clubs was torn apart in a stunning finale - one that has driven a further nail into Benitez's faltering reputation.

Guardian Service