Layton Stewart scored a dramatic late winner as Liverpool under-18s edged a remarkable seven-goal thriller against Manchester United.
Stewart forced home a Leighton Clarkson corner from the right with only minutes remaining as Barry Lewtas' side won 4-3 at the Academy in Kirkby on Saturday.
The young Reds had gone ahead on three separate occasions only to be pegged back each time before Stewart's late intervention.
The game ended in controversy with a flare-up involving almost all 22 players sparked by United's Reece Devine after the final whistle, the left-back given a second yellow and subsequent red after the final whistle.
It was the sixth sending-off in the last four games between the bitter North West rivals at this level.
After a meandering opening period with both teams feeling each other out, Liverpool took the lead with a well-worked strike on 26 minutes.
A neat ball from Niall Brookwell – sent off when the teams last met in February – put in Matteo Ritaccio, who held his nerve to go around United goalkeeper Ondrej Mastny to score.
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The lead, though, lasted only three minutes. A United free-kick from the right was floated towards Liverpool keeper Ben Winterbottom, who failed to deal with the ball under heavy pressure from visiting players.
As the home players appeared to stop awaiting the whistle for a foul, United substitute Deji Satona, only on the field for four minutes, tapped home.
Liverpool regained the lead with another fine team strike on 37 minutes. This time, a long ball was headed down by Stewart into the path of Jake Cain, who slotted an excellent throughball into the path of Fidel O'Rourke to confidently convert.
But United levelled once more four minutes before the break. It was a hugely fortunate strike too, a shot from the edge of the area taking several deflections before spinning in off Charlie Wellens.
Liverpool were the better team after the interval, and it needed a fine save from Mastny to turn over a Tom Hill screamer from range.
And they notched a brilliant third with 10 minutes remaining, Clarkson spraying a ball out wide right to Hill inside the area, whose first-time cross was turned in by Brookwell.
Devine hit the underside of the bar for the visitors barely 60 seconds later but United didn't have to wait long for their third equaliser on 84 minutes.
Satona was beaten to a throughball by Winterbottom, but the the ball ended up at the feet of Wellens who put into the unguarded goal for his second. Wellens had been offside in the initial passage of play, but was not flagged.
However, the Reds earned the win they deserved when Stewart just about beat team-mate Billy Koumetio to Clarkson's corner and the ball deflected in off United's Ben Hockenhall.
Liverpool U18s are next in action on September 14 when they travel to Manchester City.
