Liverpool Under-19s made it three successive UEFA Youth League victories with a convincing 4-1 win over Rangers on Tuesday afternoon.
Goals from Oakley Cannonier, Ben Doak, Jarell Quansah and Luke Chambers sealed the points for Barry Lewtas's side before Connor Young grabbed a scant consolation with virtually the last kick of the game at the Kirkby Academy.
It means the young Reds are up to nine points in Group A after their previous wins away at Napoli and at home to Ajax. The ECHO was at Kirkby to provide analysis from another impressive showing from the U19s.
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Doak and dagger
For a young talent raised on the green-and-white side of Glasgow, the sight of Rangers would have elicited a certain type of motivation for Ben Doak.
The 16-year-old may be a fully-fledged Red now having traded Celtic for Liverpool earlier this year but this will have meant that bit more to Doak on Tuesday afternoon at the Academy.
The two-footed winger was again outstanding as he helped provide Lewtas's team with a constant outlet wide on the right. His close control and willingness to go on both outside and the inside caused problems all game for the visiting defenders.
After dovetailing nearly with right-back Isaac Mabaya, Doak added to Cannonier's poacher's finish with an instinctive one of his own before the half-hour mark, tapping into the empty net first time after Bobby Clark's effort had struck the post.
A lovely piece of skill down the left took Doak into the box in the first half before a dummy near the halfway line after the restart left beleaguered Robbie Fraser for dead. That followed on from a classy touch to send Melkamu Frauendorf away down the left and the only thing missing from the youngster's performance was more goals.
Overworked goalkeeper Jacob Pazikas made one of his several saves to deny Doak in the second before another goal-bound effort was blocked as Liverpool continued to pile the pressure on the Scots.
Having already turned out for Celtic's seniors in an Old Firm contest, Doak may be forgiven for feeling he's above tormenting their Under-19s side, but his mentality and approach to this one delighted his manager as he added another eye-catching performance to an ever growing list already this season.
"I will say I thought today he deserved that praise that comes with [the performance]," Lewtas told the ECHO after the game. "He mixed up his game, we know about his one-versus-one ability but he defended ever so well. He linked the game really well and I thought he brought others into it so well.
"Obviously there was no concern but it was a big game for him with the [Rangers and Celtic] rivalry but I thought he played for the team today, I don't think he played for himself. So I thought today he was excellent."
Cannonier at it again
The goal-machine that is Oakley Cannonier was once again pivotal for Liverpool on Tuesday.
A close-ranger flick of the head was enough to turn home Quansah's powerful header from a corner as the Leeds-born striker took his tally in this competition to five goals in just three appearances.
Having registered 33 times last term, Cannonier is adjusting to the step up in age groups superbly in the opening weeks of the campaign and how it must fill the rest of the team with confidence to know they have a striker who can sniff out chances in the mould of the archetypal No.9.
Aside from his early goal, Cannonier was building further on his skillset an all-round forward, dropping into spaces at times and looking to thread the likes of Frauendorf and Doak either side of him.
There are some things still to work on, of course, and one lay-off to Clark on the edge of the box was slack while an attempt at a relatively simple through ball for Doak was cut out by a Rangers defender, but Lewtas was thoroughly impressed with his overall performance.
The manager said: "I thought Oakley built it up really well and held it up in nice areas and we know Oakley has the ability to drop into those pockets and get on the half-turn. So that is part of his game that will only continue to get better and it's already good, of course. That's an area of his game that will kind of get better at as well.
"We're trying to get that all-round No.9 diet into his game if you like. We know all about the types of goals he can score, he's been doing that. But it's about just creating and linking the play now to add another string to his bow really."
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