Shropshire Star

Dave Edwards recalls his Wolves FA Cup red letter day at Liverpool

The last time Wolves met Liverpool in the FA Cup at Anfield, Dave Edwards wore the captain’s armband as they sent the Reds crashing out.

Published

Wolves have drawn one of the ‘big six’ in the FA Cup third-round draw this season.

But the last two times Wolves have come against Jurgen Klopp’s men in the competition they have been victorious.

Ruben Neves was the match-winner at Molineux in 2019, and in 2017 Richard Stearman and Andreas Weimann scored to earn them a historic 2-1 win at Anfield, a game that Edwards remembers fondly.

He said: “It was an occasion which I really remember well, partly because it was in the latter part of my career.

“I would have been 30 coming on to 31, and I always knew those sorts of games would not come around for that much longer. I was captain for the day as well.

“With it being an FA Cup game there was increased away fans capacity in the Anfield Road End making unbelievable noise.

“It was made even more special by being captain, I tried to harness that to enjoy the occasion.”

Liverpool had made a few changes for the game, but Edwards says Wolves were desperate to start strongly.

“We had a terrific first half and got ahead, and we were just hanging on for dear life at the end,” he continued. “We wanted to be on the front foot, and we wanted to press them – we managed to do that. We won a free-kick off the back of it, and Richard Stearman scored from it in front of the Kop.

“We sat deeper and absorbed the pressure, and we always knew with Helder Costa and Weimann we had blistering pace on the break. Those two combined well for the second goal.

“We knew we were going to give up the ball, and we had a hard-working industrious midfield, to cover the ground and make it hard for Liverpool.

“It was one of the best days I had in a Wolves shirt.”

And Edwards remembers the Liverpool boss coming out to watch them warm-up, which is something he had never seen up to that point.

He said: “I remember Klopp watching us in the warm-up, and it was the first time I had witnessed anything like that.

“He just watched intently, like he was staring into your soul when he watched you – which put you through your paces early on.

“He is one of the best managers in the world, and the side he has developed there is out of this world, and that was near the start of his journey.”