SO THIS is what the FA Cup is all about. A team of ordinary men, with regular nine-to-five jobs, gets through a few rounds of the competition and draws Liverpool in the fourth round. They ask their bosses for Friday afternoon off, they board the most luxurious coach they’ve ever seen, stop off at Man-chester United’s famed training centre and show up at Anfield ready to rock.

Liverpool didn’t seem to know what to expect from the artisans of Havant & Waterlooville but would have presumed that any team with appalling away form in the Blue Square South shouldn’t have been much of a problem. How wrong the presumptions. The part-timers from the south coast played the game of their lives and for 45 minutes lived the dream of the most unlikely victory in the 137-year history of the competition.

And it wasn’t that Havant & Waterlooville got lucky. Far from it. Through an extraordinary first half, it was the part-timers who played the better football. They knew it would be an extraordinary occasion but they made a great Cup tie. “People laughed at us when we said we would come to Anfield and have a go,” said their manager Shaun Gale. “We well and truly had a go.”

Liverpool gave a first start to their Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel, who cost £6.5m. For 5% of that fee, you could have the entire Havant first-team squad and change left over. Well, you should have seen how Rocky Baptiste and Richard Pacquette teased Skrtel during that first half.

Havant are a team of mostly ex-profes-sional footballers who lost their places in the Football League but never lost their love for the game. They now combine nine-to-five jobs with playing five divisions below the Premier League. For 45 minutes yesterday the chasm in class, earning power and public recognition was not evident and there was no surprise in the extraordinary ovation accorded them by Liverpool fans at the end.

Audaciously, they went in front after eight minutes when Pacquette headed home. Then when Liverpool tied the match with a spectacular shot from the Brazilian, Lucas, the part-timers kept believing they could trouble Liverpool and they did, Alfie Potter getting his team’s second goal off Skrtel.

The 6,000 Havant fans sang “You only sing when you’re winning.” Not true, but funny. Just before half-time Liverpool equalised and then their superior fitness told in the second half as they scored three unanswered goals. But Havant & Waterlooville had given us an occasion to savour. Someone asked Gale if he would be having a beer last evening. “We’ll have a couple,” he replied. You can bet “a couple” wasn’t two.

Elsewhere, lowly Championship side Preston stunned Premier League Derby 4-1, but Arsenal easily saw off Newcastle United 3-0. Chelsea beat Wigan 2-1 with Nicolas Anelka scoring his first goal for the club. For all the big shots, the day belonged to the little team from Hampshire.

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