Five memorable Liverpool wins against Stoke City

Pete Spencer | On 16, Aug 2013

Pete Spencer recalls his five most memorable Liverpool wins over Stoke City, who the Reds host at Anfield on Saturday.

This is a new series for the 2013-14 Premier League season which will focus unashamedly on success for Liverpool down the years. For each league fixture I will highlight my five favourite wins against the upcoming opposition.

So be warned, if you’re looking for coverage of matches where your favourite team has put one over on Liverpool, then move along or write something yourself as there’ll be nothing to see here for you.

Stoke at home

April 17, 1976
LIVERPOOL   (2)   5   (Neal, pen 37, Toshack 43, Kennedy 51, Hughes 73, Fairclough 78)
STOKE CITY   (1)   3   (Conroy 30, Moores 60, Bloor 89)

LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Smith, Thompson, Hughes, Smith; Case (Fairclough), Callaghan, Kennedy; Toshack, Keegan, Heighway

STOKE: Shilton; Marsh, Mahoney, Dodd, Pejic; Robertson, Bloor, Salmons; Moore, Conroy, Greenhoff

This was Bob Paisley’s first League-title winning season in only his second since taking over from Bill Shankly.

QPR had emerged as the surprise challengers, leading the league up to November. Liverpool had only hit the top in February but then struggled to keep their League form as well as compete in the UEFA Cup. They’d just knocked out Barcelona to reach the UEFA Cup Final and then Stoke City visited Anfield with just three games of the season to go.

Stoke, managed by Tony Waddington, had Peter Shilton in goal and were the livelier to begin with.  With half an hour gone Terry Conroy converted a right-wing cross to give the visitors the lead. It was the first time Clemence had been beaten in the league for six games.

Within minutes, though, a clumsy challenge from Jackie Marsh on Kevin Keegan gave Liverpool a penalty, and Phil Neal beat Shilton to equalise.

Then, just before the break, John Toshack and Keegan combined to find Steve Heighway on the left, and his cross was turned in by Toshack to give Liverpool a half-time lead.

Early in the second half Keegan picked the ball up just inside the Stoke half, made room for himself and then picked out a lovely through ball for Ray Kennedy to run onto and slide the ball in for a 3-1 lead.

Ten minutes later and a long ball from Stoke left-back Mike Pejic had Jimmy Greenhoff causing problems in the home defence, with Ian Moores on hand to head in to grab a goal back.

Then with 20 minutes to go came a characteristic run from the back from Emlyn Hughes, and he played a one-two with Keegan on the edge of the box before firing the ball past Shilton for a memorable goal.

Five minutes later Keegan found Ray Kennedy free in the area and he got to the bye-line to pull it back where substitute David Fairclough converted it for Liverpool’s fifth. It was David “super-sub” Fairclough’s third goal home games when coming on as a substitute.

Alan Bloor got a goal back for Stoke but Liverpool were worthy winners. It was a win which took them back to the top as QPR lost at Norwich, and the Reds went onto lift the trophy, beating QPR by a point. They also won the UEFA Cup that season.

December 27, 1976
LIVERPOOL   (1)   4   (Thompson 5, Neal pen 62, Keegan, Johnson)
STOKE CITY   (0)   0

LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hughes, Jones; McDermott, Callaghan (Johnson), Kennedy; Toshack, Keegan, Heighway

STOKE: Shilton, Marsh, Smith, Bloor, Pejic; Dodd, Waddington, Bithell; Tudor, Salmons, Robertson

When Stoke came back to Anfield the following December, Liverpool were again in second place in the league, just behind Ipswich on goal difference. Liverpool had claimed 17 points from a maximum 18 at home and Stoke were yet to win away.

Phil Thompson gave Liverpool an early lead in the fifth minute and that was the difference between the two sides at the break, but Phil Neal doubled the lead when he scored from the spot just on the hour and then five minutes later Kevin Keegan made things certain as he scored Liverpool’s third.

Into the last 10 minutes and substitute David Johnson completed the scoring with the home side’s fourth. Liverpool went back to the top of the table as Ipswich were held at Coventry.

April 3, 1981
LIVERPOOL   (1)   3   (Whelan 27, McDermott 52, 81)
STOKE CITY   (0)   0

LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Kennedy; Lee, Case, McDermott, Whelan; Dalglish, Rush

STOKE: Fox; Evans, Doyle, Dodd, Munro; Ursem, O’Callaghan, Bracewell; Maguire, Heath, Chapman

Stoke again visited Anfield in April but this time Liverpool were 10 points off the lead in the League as they were chasing other trophies. Two days before this fixture they’d beaten West Ham to lift their first League Cup when they won 2-1 in a replay. Ian Rush made an impression in that game and retained his place for this match.

Ronnie Whelan gave Liverpool a first-half lead as he marked his debut with a goal. Whelan was one of several players Paisley had introduced that season as he sought to rebuild a double European Cup winning side.

Early in the second half Terry McDermott put the home side 2-0 up and then he completed the scoring nine minutes from the end. 1980-81 was a vintage year for McDermott as he topped the scoring charts, even beating Kenny Dalglish.

This win moved them up to fourth but they never threatened as Aston Villa won their first title for 70 years. Liverpool had to console themselves with their first League Cup and a third European Cup as they beat Real Madrid in Paris.

March 5, 1983
LIVERPOOL   (2)   5   (Dalglish 7, 47, Neal 35, Johnston 76, Souness 89)
STOKE CITY   (0)   1   (Bracewell 49)

LIVERPOOL: Grobbelaar; Neal, Lawrenson, Hansen, Kennedy; Lee, Johnston, Souness, Whelan; Dalglish, Rush

STOKE: Fox; Parkin, Berry, Watson, Hampton; McIlroy, Thomas, Painter (McAughtrie); O’Callaghan, Chamberlain, Bracewell

When Stoke arrived at Anfield they found the hosts again unbeaten and leading the table by 14 points. Liverpool had already booked their annual trip to Wembley for the League Cup but had just returned from trip to Poland where they lost to Widzew Lodz in the first leg of their latest European Cup tie.

This was Bob Paisley’s final season as Liverpool manager and the team were keen to make sure they added to their haul of League titles.

The Stoke side included former Manchester United players Mickey Thomas and Sammy McIlroy as well as future Everton midfielder Paul Bracewell, and Mark Chamberlain, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s dad.

Kenny Dalglish opened the scoring for the home side inside the first 10 minutes and then Phil Neal scored against Stoke yet again when he made it 2-0 10 minutes before the break.

Just into the second half and Dalglish scored his second of the game. Bracewell got a goal back for the visitors minutes later but Craig Johnston and Graeme Souness rounded things off to give Liverpool an impressive 5-1 win.

Liverpool ended up winning their third successive League Cup and their sixth League Championship under Bob Paisley as they finished 11 points clear of Watford.

August 19, 2009
LIVERPOOL   (2)   4  (Torres 4, Johnson 45, Kuyt 78, Ngog 90)
STOKE CITY   (0)   0

LIVERPOOL: Reina; Johnson, Carragher, Ayala, Insua; Lucas, Mascherano; Benayoun, Gerrard (Voronin); Kuyt (Riera), Torres (Ngog)

STOKE: Sorensen; Higginbottom, Shawcross, Wilkinson, Whelan; Whitehead (Pugh), Faye, Delap, Etherington; Beattie (Lawrence), Cresswell (Fuller)

When Stoke visited Anfield at the beginning of the 2009-10 they were into their second successive season in the top flight after a gap of 23 years.

This was the first home game of the season for Liverpool who had just come off a 2-1 defeat at Spurs. Liverpool had finished the previous season in second place in what was probably their best chance of winning the Premier League title. They hadn’t lost a league game at Anfield since December 2007, a run of 30 games.

They began this new season in fine form and went ahead as early as the fourth minute as a burst from Steven Gerrard on the right saw him pull the ball back to Fernando Torres, who was on hand to drill the ball past Thomas Sorensen.

Liverpool doubled their lead right on half-time from a corner as Dirk Kuyt’s low header was blocked on the line by Sorensen, and Glen Johnson knocked in the rebound for a goal on his debut.

Johnson was involved in many of Liverpool’s best efforts and he was involved in the third goal when he found Gerrard with a clever pass and the captain’s low cross was turned in by Kuyt from close range. Then in injury time Johnson was again involved as David Ngog, a second-half substitute for Torres, headed in from just under the bar.

It was a good, fluent performance, but the season frustrated throughout and at the end of it, Rafa Benitez left the club.

HEAD TO HEAD at Anfield

Matches: 62
Liverpool win: 46
Stoke win: 3
Draws: 13

Liverpool goals: 134
Stoke goals: 40

Liverpool are the 2/5 favourites to once again beat Stoke at Anfield this weekend.