This was about as bad as it has ever been on the pitch at Anfield. A true nadir.
Ten years ago today, a Liverpool team managed by Roy Hodgson - one that was still owned by Tim Hicks and George Gillett - stepped out for a League Cup tie at home to Northampton Town.
After a rocky start to life at the club, it should have been manna from heaven for Hodgson. A chance to really build some confidence.
What should have been a routine progression to the fourth round against a League Two team became a night of infamy in Anfield's long history of memorable evenings.
This was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons only.
It was not an all-singing, all-dancing Reds team that Hodgson selected on September 22, 2010. There was no Steven Gerrard or Fernando Torres, for example.
Jamie Carragher was not taking part and new signing Joe Cole was given the night off.
But Hodgson - who proved to be so woefully out of his depth during his short stint as Liverpool boss - was still able to call upon players like Daniel Agger, Lucas Leiva and Ryan Babel.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos was given the captaincy but the Reds had enough in their starting lineup, in theory, to have eased past their lowly visitors.
A team who arrived at Anfield 17th in the bottom rung of the Football League were largely expected to be cannon fodder, even for an embattled Reds side who were struggling to find their feet under Hodgson.
What followed saw Liverpool plummet to what is surely their lowest point this century.
Given all the other circumstances that surrounded a club that was flirting with the possibility of administration at the time, there is a strong case to be made that this was the worst of the lot.
That is some accolade for 128 years of history.
Dumped out on penalties to the visitors following a 2-2 draw after extra time, Reds supporters could not believe what they were witnessing.
It was not a backs-to-the-wall defensive performance that got the League Two side through, either.
Both teams equally shared eight shots on target with the visitors recording seven corners to their hosts' six.
Northampton Town came, saw and conquered.
Abdul Osman converted the decisive penalty and there would be no hiding place for Hodgson or his players.
"A LOAD OF COBBLERS" screamed the Liverpool ECHO's headline the following day as the Reds hit a historic 51-year low, beaten by a team 69 places below them in the football pyramid.
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Perhaps the worst thing about the defeat itself was that it was a not a rare aberration for a club whose fortunes were otherwise on the rise. This was no peculiar anomaly or freak of football.
Liverpool didn't deserve to win that night and with poisonous owners Hicks and Gillett still having their clutches firmly embedded into the Anfield fabric, there was no light at the end of the tunnel as the new low hit them hard on the backside.
A decade on, the mere mention of Northampton is enough to make anyone connected to Liverpool wince.
But the times, they have changed. Rather dramatically, as it happens.
Liverpool are now the envy of world football; a team littered with world-class stars guided by one of the most charismatic and capable managers in the game in Jurgen Klopp.
Under the ownership of the sensible and prudent Fenway Sports Group, the Reds are now a world away from where they found themselves on that wet Merseyside night.
New signings Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota have added some top-class depth to a squad that has already won the Champions League, Premier League and Club World Cup since June last year.
And while the grumbles over the lack of a big-spending transfer window can still be felt across the nether regions of social media, Liverpool supporters at Anfield on September 22, 2010 really know what it's like to be angered by the team you follow.
Hicks and Gillett have long since been consigned to a darker past while Hodgson's regrettable stint in the dugout is a mere footnote.
Ten years ago, the mighty had fallen, but as the Reds prepare to begin their latest League Cup campaign this week at Lincoln, the talk is only about the further heights this squad can yet scale.
And maybe, just maybe, supporters are even able to afford themselves a smile over that shocking night a decade ago.
- Were you at Anfield when Northampton beat Liverpool in 2010? Leave your memories of the game in the comments below.
