The Reds claimed a 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic, courtesy of early strikes by Paul Glatzel and Bobby Duncan, and will now face Bury away from home in the quarter-finals.
Lewtas insisted his players will not stray from their mentality so far – that of looking no further than the next round of the competition – but welcomed the chance of going for silverware.
Read his post-match verdict in full below…
On the difficulty of the game…
I said all week and before the game that I knew how tough it would be. We got off to a really good start and then they tried to come out and got at us. They made it difficult, we had to play against a direct game. We’re made up to be through.
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On the result being more important than the performance…
There are different ways to play football. They stuck the ball in areas, we had to defend against two forwards, and sometimes you’ve got to dig in – that’s part of the game. The boys showed plenty of character, we defended crosses well. I’m really pleased, there are different ways of playing the game.
On the display of his defence…
They had a few little individual chances. I’m sure there’ll be more chances when I watch it back. But as a team we defended well, we kept them away from the goal, which is what we worked on. I’m pleased with the clean sheet.
On Duncan and Glatzel moving up to 43 goals this season…
We have said all season, we create chances and they are strikers who put them away. Fair play to them, they were two cracking finishes at really important moments of the game. They got us off to a really good start so credit to them.
On whether Liverpool can start to think about winning the competition…
We’ll continue the way we’ve done it: round to round. Of course we’ll go into the next game and want to win and get to the semi-finals. We believe this is where a club like this should be; these boys have got to learn to be competing in the back end of competitions. Bring it on.
On a break for the U18s…
The boys will get a little bit of time off. They’ve not had much time off at all. Most of them will have the weekend off. A few of them will be with the U23s on Monday and will be in at the weekend. We’ll have a rest, regroup and be ready for Newcastle next weekend.