Zander hails fairytale adventure

ZANDER Diamond hailed Athletic’s Anfield adventure as a fairytale and threw down the gauntlet to his team-mates to make such memorable nights a more regular occurrence.

The Scot produced a towering performance at the heart of the visitors’ defence despite a 5-1 defeat to Liverpool which didn’t tell the story of a spirited display from Paul Dickov's side.

Despite his obvious disappointment at exiting the FA Cup, Diamond was determined not to miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to swap shirts with his idol, Jamie Carragher, after the full-time whistle.

Now he wants to go toe-to-toe with more household names.

He said: “We played well so to come away having lost 5-1 is a tough one to swallow and we are all disappointed.

“But as for the occasion itself, I think it was like a fairytale.

“Hearing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ at the start and the end was an unbelievable experience — it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

“I am a huge Jamie Carragher fan so I was delighted to swap shirts with him as we walked off the pitch.

“It is unbelievable because in a short space of time I have gone from reading his autobiography to playing against him and taking home his jersey. What a feeling.

“If playing at a place like Anfield doesn’t make you want it all the time, you are in the wrong job.

“We are all in football because we want to do as well as we possibly can and test ourselves against the best.

“I think we did well against some great Liverpool players and we did not deserve to lose by four goals.

“Maybe it would have been a different outcome if they had not equalised with a deflection seconds after our goal. Defending the lead for 10 minutes could have made a huge difference.”

Diamond (26) feels the younger players at the club can take inspiration from Athletic’s FA Cup exploits.

He added: “It goes to show what is possible in this game. There is no reason why we cannot do it again.

“The young lads here have witnessed a trip to one of the biggest clubs around and it is down to them to work hard and make big matches a regular thing.

“Steven Gerrard is one of the best players around — he has been for a long time. To give it a go against the stars is what it is all about.”