TWO goals by striker Robbie Foy - including a crucial 95th-minute penalty - helped what was primarily an Under-19s Academy side take the Reds into the Liverpool Senior Cupfinal.

A tidy finish from sub Karl Noon four minutes from the end finally killed off Runcorn's hopes of success in their first appearance in the competition's semis. But it was Foy's spotkick which turned an even tie.

It was not awarded by substitute referee Mr Berwick but one of his assistants although there was little doubt that Andy Wright - Liverpool's stand-out midfieldman - had been checked by Runcorn's second-choice keeper Andy Murphy.

Foy finished well in the first half from a right-wing cross by Stephen Vaughan, before Vaughan's full-back part-ner Dave Raven was punished for a mistake by Lee Kissock's volleyed equaliser.

RUNCORN FC HALTON: Murphy, Spearritt, McGinn (Aldridge 46), Nolan, Ellis (Parkinson 100), Ness, Mitchell (Tamm 100), Morley, Kissock, Courtney, Rendell. LIVERPOOL: Willis, Vaughan, Raven, Flynn, O'Donnell, Wright, Jones, Welsh (Townley 45, Noon 114), Foy, Wilkie (Platt 114), Foley