3rd April

4-3 for the first time
1996 - We played out a real humdinger with Newcastle United at Anfield. Robbie Fowler put us ahead after two minutes, but we went in 2-1 down at half-time after one of Les Ferdinand’s six strikes past us and a David Ginola goal. Robbie Fowler levelled the scores with his 22nd strike in his last 21 outings, but Faustino Asprilla put the visitors ahead again two minutes later. Stan Collymore tied the match once more, and then grabbed a dramatic last-gasp winner right at the death, in a match later voted the best in the Premiership’s first decade.

A new record capture
1981 - Craig Johnston signed from Middlesbrough for a club record £650,000 fee. He grabbed forty goals, including one in the 1986 FA Cup Final, in 271 reds games, also helping us to claim the European Cup, five League titles and two League Cups in his time at Anfield.

Debuts leading to contrasting careers
1981 - Ronnie Whelan got his reds career off to a flying start by scoring on his debut, a 3-0 home League win over Stoke City, with Terry McDermott adding a brace. Whelan went on to play 493 reds games in all.
1965 – We also beat the Potters at Anfield when Gordon Milne, Ian St. John and Roger Hunt were on target in a 3-2 victory. Roy Vernon struck the last of his six goals against the reds, with Harry Burrows also on target.

1897 - Keeper Charlie Jowett played his only senior reds game as we drew 2-2 at Anfield with The Wednesday. Inside-forward Andrew McCowie made the first of his 35 appearances for the club in this top-flight game. Willie Michael nabbed his fifth and last reds foal with Frank Becton converting a penalty while Laurie Bell bagged the first of his four strikes against the reds, with Arthur Brady also on the scoresheet for the visitors.
1899 - Custodian Bill Perkins debuted in a 3-2 defeat of Newcastle United at Anfield. Jack Cox, Johnny Walker and George Allan scored our goals, while half-back Tom Cleghorn played his seventieth and final reds game. Perkins went on to play 117 reds games, including every game in our first League championship winning season in 1900/01.

On our way to Wembley
1974 - We clinched our place in the FA Cup Final by beating Leicester City 3-1 in a replay at Villa Park. Brian Hall struck straight after half time before Len Glover equalised, but goals from Kevin Keegan and John Toshack took us to Wembley.

On the way to Athens
2007 - Jamie Carragher played his 58th game in the European Cup, breaking Phil Neal’s club record, as we won 3-0 at PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of our Champions League Quarter-final. Steven Gerrard bagged his fifteenth goal in the European Cup, breaking Ian Rush’s club record in the process, while playing his fiftieth Champions League game. John Arne Riise and Peter Crouch also netted, with Riise’s strike being his 31st and final one for the club. Dirk Kuyt seemingly got himself booked at the end of the game by obstructing a free-kick to guarantee he would be banned for second leg at Anfield and ensure a clean slate for the Semi-final. Unfortunately, Fábio Aurélio ruptured his Achilles, which kept him out of the first team until September.

Derby victories
1999 – This day brought an end to five years without a derby victory as we beat Everton 3-2 at Anfield, despite Olivier Dacourt opening the scoring in the first minute. The game is still remembered for Robbie Fowler’s goal-line sniffing celebration after he struck a penalty in front of the away fans, one of two goals he scored that day, to add to a Patrik Berger strike. Young right-back Steven Gerrard helped to preserve all three points with a couple of scrambled goal-line clearances late on. Francis Jeffers became the youngest post-war Merseyside derby goalscorer in this game, aged just eighteen years and 68 days.

1976 - Phil Neal missed a penalty at Anfield, but this did not prove costly as David Fairclough netted the only goal of a game that was played at eleven o’clock, due to the Grand National taking place at Aintree that afternoon. This was the only occasion in that title-winning season that we won four League games on the bounce.

A sweet win for Thommo at Old Trafford
1972 - Goals from Chris Lawler, John Toshack and Emlyn Hughes handed us a 3-0 win at Manchester United, with Phil Thompson making his reds debut. Unfortunately, we did not win there again for another six years.
1931 – We also played a First Division match at Old Trafford, with Gordon Hodgson on the scoresheet as we drew 1-1.

Red hundreds
2002 - Sami Hyypiä grabbed the only goal of our Champions League Quarter-final first leg at home to Bayer 04 Leverkusen, to give us a slender advantage to take to Germany. This was our 200th game in Europe.
1934 – Gordon Hodgson and Berry Nieuwenhuys struck as we won 2-0 at Huddersfield Town as right-back Willie Steel reached a century of League outings for us.

Hat-trick hero
1920 – Inside-left Dick Forshaw netted all three goals in our home First Division win over Derby County, with forward Billy Matthews debuting for the reds, at centre-half.
1937 - Harry Eastham was on target as we were beaten 4-1 at the Baseball Ground as right-half Ted Savage reached a century of reds appearances. Jack Nicholas and Ronnie Dix each netted one of their four goals against the reds, with Dai Astley bagging one of his six past us and Charlie Napier also on target.

Bimpson off the mark
1953 - Louis Bimpson bagged the first of his 39 reds goals as we beat Cardiff City 2-1 in a top-flight encounter at Anfield, with Bill Jones also on target.

Most recently
2021 – We won 3-0 at Arsenal behind closed doors, thanks to a brace from Diogo Jota and a Mohamed Salah strike.

Double award winners
2009 - Rafael Benítez and Steven Gerrard were named the Barclays Manager and Player of the Month, respectively. On the same day, Gerrard agreed a new contract until 2013, with Dirk Kuyt signing on until 2012.

Happy birthdays
1958 – Former reserve team kit man John Wright was born in Liverpool. He was with the club for nearly a decade, initially as a masseur at the Academy, and is the father of former reds right-back Stephen Wright.
1901 - Left-winger Billy Chalmers was born in Aberdeen. He only made two senior appearances after signing from Old Aberdeen FC in 1923, moving on to Tranmere Rovers in June 1925.
1926 - Outside-left Ken Brierley was born in Ashton-under-Lyme. He went on to net eight times in 61 first-team appearances after signing from Oldham Athletic for £7,000 in February 1948, returning there in March 1953.

Red farewells
1915 - Defender Phil Bratley played his thirteenth and final reds game in our 6-2 thumping at Aston Villa, with Harry Hampton scoring his second hat-trick against the reds in this fixture, and a club record fourteenth for the Villains, the last of his fifteen goals against us, and debutant Harry Nash also bagging a treble. Jackie Sheldon converted a penalty with Tom Miller grabbing our other goal. Bratley returned to Rotherham County, one of his former clubs, later that year.
1926 – We drew 2-2 with Birmingham City in L4. John Bradford bagged two of his fifteen goals past us, including a penalty. Gordon Hodgson scored as we also benefited from a Bill Hunter own goal, with centre-half Walter Wadsworth playing his 242nd and last reds game.

Jocky at the wrong end
1990 - Alan Hansen scored an own goal as we beat Wimbledon 2-1 with Ian Rush and Gary Gillespie scoring at the right end. He had also put through his own net at Plough Lane the season before!

In charge
1954 - Andy Beattie managed Scotland for the first of seventeen times as they lost 4-2 to England at Hampden Park in a World Cup qualifier that also counted towards the British International Championships. Beattie had guested with the reds during the war, and later joined the backroom staff at Anfield after a successful management career.
2011 - Paul Ince left as Manager of Notts County by mutual consent, after losing a club record nine games in a row.

Allan’s moment of glory
1897 - George Allan won his only Scottish cap as they lost 2-1 to England at Crystal Palace in the British International Championships. He was therefore the first player to be capped by the Scots while on our books. Future red Edgar Chadwick won his seventh and final cap for the home side.

Beating the Wearsiders
We have faced Sunderland three times on this day, without losing any of these top-flight meetings.
1948 - The first match ended goalless at Anfield.
1954 - Billy Liddell converted a penalty with Brian Jackson, John Evans and Eric Anderson also on target as we won in L4 by the odd goal in seven. Len Shackleton bagged the last of his five goals past us, with Ken Chisholm scoring the last of his four against the reds and Ted Purdon also netting.
1985 - Ian Rush netted a brace to add to a John Wark goal as we won 3-0 at Roker Park.

Disappointment in Manchester
We have twice played Manchester City at their old Hyde Road ground on this day in history.
1896 - George Allan struck as we drew a Second Division meeting in 1896.
1909 - We lost a top-flight match there 4-0 with Scottish keeper Don Sloan playing his sixth and last game for the reds. On the same day, keeper Sam Hardy played for England as they beat Scotland 2-0 in the British International Championships at Crystal Palace.

Other reds games
1993 – We lost 4-1 at Blackburn Rovers with Ian Rush bagging a late consolation. Ex-red Mike Newell scored one of his eight goals against the reds with Kevin Moran and Kevin Gallacher both also scoring before the break. Jason Wilcox netted the first of his four goals past us in the second half.
1970 – Bobby Graham struck twice as we beat Crystal Palace 3-0 at Anfield with Chris Lawler also on the scoresheet.

For the Saint
1973 – A Testimonial Sportsmans Dinner in honour of Ian St. John was held in the Grafton Rooms. The black-tie affair involved a main course of Chicken Zingara, with guests including Bill Shankly, Derby County boss Brian Clough, Jimmy Tarbuck, Kenny Lynch and Gerry Marsden.

Final cap
2010 – Keeper Tyrell Bedford won his second and last cap for England Under-16’s as they beat Japan 2-1 in the Montaigu Tournament. Matty Regan and Raheem Sterling both also featured.

Also in international action
1968 – Roger Hunt played for England in their 1-0 defeat of Spain in the first leg of their European Championships Quarter-final at Wembley.
1997 – Future red Vegard Heggem played for Norway Under-21’s in their goalless friendly draw with Lebanon in Beirut. On the same day, future reds goalkeeping coach Cláudio Taffarel appeared in Brazil’s 4-0 friendly thumping of Chile in Brasilia.
1990 – Future reds Stig Inge Bjørnebye and Øyvind Leonhardsen both played as Norway Under-21’s won 2-0 in Switzerland.

2013 – Future red Arthur Melo played for Brazil Under-17’s in their 1-0 defeat of Chile in the South American Championships Finals in Argentina.
2016 – Future red Rafael Camacho featured for Portugal Under-16’s in their 2-0 friendly victory over Switzerland in Matosinhos. On the same day, future red Ibrahima Konaté played for France Under-17’s as they lost 2-1 to Austria in a European Championships qualifier, with ex-red Bernard Diomède in charge.