It ended in smiles at Anfield last night. Smiles from Steven Gerrard, who scored the second hat-trick of his career; smiles from Luton Town’s players, who, as well as relishing the prospect of being paid for the first time since October, got a souvenir or two and a standing ovation for their trouble; even a smile from Rafael Benítez, which seemed like progress of sorts after recent events at Liverpool.

By the end, a sense of calm had been restored to the Kop, beyond the Liverpool fans’ chants in support of Benítez and a message telling Tom Hicks, one of the club’s co-owners, precisely where he could stick his failed plan to line up Jürgen Klinsmann to replace the Spaniard as manager. When they chanted for the first time that the club is “in the wrong hands”, it was abundantly clear that they were referring to Hicks and George Gillett Jr, rather than Benítez, who is becoming a cause célèbre.

Would the reception have been so warm had Liverpool’s frustration continued beyond first-half stoppage time? Possibly not, but from the moment Ryan Babel ended Luton’s resistance, the outcome was not in doubt. Gerrard scored a hat-trick, while Sami Hyypia was given the other goal in the absence of a claim from Matthew Spring, the Luton captain, who appeared to get the final touch. With Jamie Carragher making his 500th appearance for the club, all was well that ended well.

Benítez can breathe a little easier this morning, over his immediate prospects if not the long-term picture, but it will take a lot more than a FA Cup third-round victory over a Coca-Cola League One side — and this was a replay, remember — to turn the tide that has risen against him since his fallout with Hicks and Gillett in the autumn. It was for good reason that he ducked questions about his future afterwards. “Very sensible,” one reporter replied, somewhat incongruously, when the manager explained his reticence in his post-match press conference.

It is a similar scenario for Kevin Blackwell, the Luton manager, who said that he would “go home and have a chat with a few people” rather than air his immediate views on whether the impending £10 million takeover by Nick Owen’s consortium would affect his plan to leave the club next month. He expressed unhappiness that he had learnt the news from the BBC, rather than the club’s administrators.

Last night, it was as much as Blackwell could do to field a team. With Dean Brill, the goalkeeper, carrying a thigh injury and with no back-up beyond Ross Faulds, an 18-year-old, goal-kick duties were deputed to Alan Goodall. The sight of a centre half taking goal kicks and then racing upfield is synonymous with pub teams — and bad pub teams at that — but Luton are nothing of the sort, as they proved by outplaying Liverpool for periods at Kenilworth Road.

It was, of course, utterly one-sided — the post-match statistics revealed that Liverpool had hit 22 shots on target to their opponents’ none — but Luton looked like reaching half-time with the match goalless. Don Hutchison, once one of Anfield’s great hopes, was having an inspired first half at the heart of the Luton defence, repelling just about everything that Fernando Torres, Gerrard and Peter Crouch could throw at it, and on the one occasion that Liverpool got beyond him, in the ninth minute, Babel’s shot struck the foot of a post.

Babel was symptomatic of Liverpool’s malaise, looking increasingly unhappy on the left wing, but in the final moments of the first half he drifted inside to finish off a thrusting counter-attack as the ball was switched at pace between Gerrard and Torres, who sent the young Holland forward through the inside-right channel to score with a crisp low shot across Brill.

Seven minutes into the second half it was 2-0, Gerrard putting his head among the flying feet in a crowded penalty area to score after Crouch intelligently knocked down Jermaine Pennant’s cross, and the third soon followed, with Spring, the Luton captain, appearing to get the unwitting final touch from Gerrard’s corner, even though Hyypia claimed the credit.

This was supposed to be Carragher’s evening, with Gerrard even relinquishing the captaincy for the night and leading a guard of honour for his team-mate before kick-off. But by the end, normal service had been resumed, with Gerrard claiming centre stage, scoring his second with precision and completing his hat-trick from distance. As he took his leave, there was a cursory handshake from Gerrard for Benítez. Nothing out of the ordinary, but at least a hint of unity at a time when it has been lacking at Anfield.

Liverpool (4-4-2): C Itandje - Á Arbeloa, J Carragher, S Hyypia, J A Riise – J Pennant, S Gerrard (sub: Lucas Leiva, 73min), X Alonso, R Babel – P Crouch (sub: D Kuyt, 65), F Torres (sub: F Aurélio, 73). Substitutes not used: D Martin, H Kewell. Booked: Hyypia.

Luton Town (4-1-4-1):x D Brill – K Keane, D Hutchison, A Goodall, R Jackson – S Robinson (sub: S O’Leary, 68) – D Bell (sub: P McVeigh, 73), M Spring, C Andrew (sub: P Furlong, 68), D Currie – D Talbot. Substitutes not used: L Emanuel, S Parkin.

Referee: P Walton.

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