With Stoke City crashing out the Capital One Cup on the cruelest possible way manager Mark Hughes felt his side were a "far better team" on the night.
The potters won over 90 minutes in a match that had parallels to the reverse fixture at the Britannia but it was Liverpool who prevailed on the night with Joe Allen striking the winning penalty.
Peter Crouch and Marco Muniesa both had their penalties saved by Simon Mignolet to end their valiant League Cup run and stop dead any hope of making it to Wembley.
Mark Hughes' Dissapointment
Losing a semi-final is always cruel but bowing out on penalties is a tough pill to swallow as the lure of Wembley was calling, Mark Hughes suffered this fate many times as a player but has encountered this very rarely as a manager.
The Welshman was proud of his side's effort but with nothing to show for it he feels they deserved more.
He said, "On the night we were a far better team," he remarked after the events. "Obviously once it goes to penalties it can go either way and heartbreakingly for us it has gone their way."
Stoke have not won a League Cup trophy since 1972 as they defeated Chelsea 2-1 at the old Wembley stadium, their chance to end that drought at the new stadium will have to wait until next season at the earliest as the Potters were dramatically defeated by Liverpool on penalties 6-5 last night.
Missed Opportunities
Despite a crucial penalty miss Hughes refused to place any blame on striker Peter Crouch who missed his penalty as the striker was chosen to play despite featuring sparingly for the club this season.
He said "I have not given him a great deal of football this year but I thought he was great"
The veteran striker has fallen out of favour with Hughes as Bojan Krkric lies ahead of him in the pecking order in the managers heavily favoured 'false nine' position.
'Crouchie' was linked with a move away from the Britannia this transfer window with Leeds United highly interested in the 34-year-old as the Whites looked to add a powerful forward to their ranks to spearhead a late promotion charge.
Interest has cooled down on the ex England International now and after being shown faith by the manager he may well stick around till the end of the season.