Emile Heskey scored twice and missed a penalty as Liverpool reached the fourth round of the Carling Cup after a seven-goal thriller at Ewood Park.

There was a strong Anfield connection in the home side's ranks with Graeme Souness in charge of Blackburn and three former Reds in the team - Brad Friedel, Markus Babbel and David Thompson.

Dwight Yorke fired Blackburn into the the lead only for Danny Murphy to level from the penalty spot just before half-time.

Heskey then scored twice before missing a penalty and a chance of a hat-trick. When Harry Kewell made it 4-1 the game looked to be over, but the home side were not finished yet.

Barry Ferguson made it 4-2 and when Yorke fired again in the last minute it set up a tense finale, but the Reds just held on.