Liverpool FC: Stewart Downing determined to make it third time lucky in FA Cup semi-finals
- by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo
Stewart Downing celebrates his goal.
STEWART DOWNING is desperate to finally grace the FA Cup final this season with Liverpool FC and avoid an unwanted hat-trick of semi-final setbacks.
The Reds winger fired Liverpool back to Wembley on Sunday as his sweet strike sealed a 2-1 win over Stoke City at Anfield.
Kenny Dalglish's side will face either Everton FC or Sunderland in the capital on Saturday, April 14 and it will be the third time Downing has been to the last four of the competition.
In 2002 he could only sit and watch as his Middlesbrough side's hopes of glory were ended by a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal.
Four years later Downing was in the thick of the action for Boro but couldn't prevent West Ham booking their final trip by the same scoreline.
Having twice experienced the agony of falling at the semi-final stage, Downing is keen to ensure the Reds make it back to Wembley once again for the final on Saturday, May 5.
"The semis is the worst place to lose," Downing said.
"I played against West Ham in 2006 and how we lost that one I will never know.
"I was on the bench when Arsenal beat us 1-0 with an own goal so I have lost a couple.
"If you get to the semi-final and lose, I always say that you may as well have got knocked out in the first round because all the hard work means nothing.
"But I'm confident whoever we get, we can go there and get a result. You can see the confidence in the team.
"There is competition for places and everyone is on their toes, itching to play well."
Downing struggled to make an impression earlier in the season following his £20million switch to Liverpool FC from Aston Villa last summer.
However, since producing a man of the match performance in last month's Carling Cup final he has been much improved.
The 27-year-old admits that triumph at Wembley has kick-started his LFC career.
"It was a good performance in the Carling Cup final and I was pleased with everything, right the way through to the penalty I scored," he added.
"I feel as if I have been good since that day. I just want to keep playing well and stay in the team.
"Winning breeds confidence and I am enjoying it.
"It was frustrating at times against Stoke but the manager said 'keep running at them and looking to create'.
"Me and Stevie (Gerrard) played a one-two that didn't quite go as we planned but I managed to put it away for the winner. We got a bit of luck and we were due some of that."
Liverpool have now come through 11 games in the two domestic Cup competitions this season unscathed.
Their serene progress has been in stark contrast to the inconsistent league form which has dogged their pursuit of Champions League qualification.
With 10 games to go, the seventh placed Reds find themselves 10 points adrift of fourth placed Arsenal.
"Maybe we enjoy Cup games more," Downing said. "If you win, you are in the next round and there isn't the pressure of getting points.
"The league is all about getting points on the board and we have been disappointing a little bit. We have played good football and created a lot of chances. We just haven't had that clinical finishing.
"Hopefully it will come together in the next couple of weeks and we can push for fourth place. It is a tough ask but we have still got to keep going. You just never know what might happen."
In order to have any chance of catching Arsenal, Downing knows Liverpool FC must overcome relegation threatened Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road tomorrow night.
"We have got to beat QPR," he added.
"If we keep playing as we are and creating chances, we can go there and win comfortably. It's a big game for us.
"We have got to start better than we did against Stoke. If we do we will win."
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