Liverpool’s call for big guns a pat on the back - Johnson

LEE Johnson turns to the Athletic fans after the FA Cup, third-round tie against Liverpool at Anfield.

LIVERPOOL’S cavalry call at Anfield was a major compliment to the way Athletic set about their task, according to proud manager Lee Johnson.

After a first half in which the visitors held their own in front of a sell-out crowd, Reds manager Brendan Rodgers was forced to turn to a pair of Brazilian substitutes — Lucas Leiva and Philipe Coutinho — to turn the game his way.

Even then a second-half strike from Iago Aspas was followed up by a strong fight back from Athletic, who went close to levelling when Mike Petrasso’s shot was beaten away by goalkeeper Brad Jones.

It led to Rodgers reluctantly introducing star striker Luis Suarez into the fray off the bench to tilt the balance back to his side.

James Tarkowski’s unfortunate own goal then sealed Liverpool’s passage to a round-four meeting at either Bournemouth or Burton, but performance of his players left Johnson beaming.

“At half-time he brought on Coutinho and Lucas and they are both top-quality players,” Johnson said.

“I could see he was trying to do it without them, but it is a compliment to the lads they didn’t do it up to half-time.

“Liverpool have scored an average of three goals at home this season and our performance was certainly no disgrace. We had a couple of decent shots, corners and free-kicks. I thought the boys showed energy, particularly when we were 1-0 down. For a 20-minute period, you wouldn’t have known who was the Premier League side.

“The players can go home, look themselves in the mirror and say they competed on a massive stage against world-class players and in front of world-class fans.”

Athletic’s manager said the late introduction of Anton Rodgers - the son of Liverpool boss Brendan - was justified given his display in the first-round replay of the competition.

“He deserved it. He was magnificent at Wolves, when we beat them 2-1 away, and I wanted to go with the group who deserved to play at Anfield.”