Exeter 2-2 Liverpool: FA Cup third round - as it happened

Full time: Exeter 2-2 Liverpool

The magic of the third round of the FA Cup returns as Exeter hold Premier League Liverpool at St James Park. The League Two side twice took the lead but it took Brad Smith's equaliser to grab a replay. Jurgen Klopp's young guns were poor for long periods after a host of senior players were left out but they will have another chance to impress in a replay in 10 days time. Fine tie, and let's hope that quality continues.

Well that is all we have time for on this live blog. We are back with live coverage of all of the rest of the FA Cup third round from tomorrow, but until then goodbye.

Troy Brown rises high but Liverpool get it clear. A replay is imminent.

Four added minutes in Devon. Exeter corner.

Into stoppage time at St James Park and Liverpool are staring down the prospect of a replay against League Two Exeter City. Not the night Jurgen Klopp will have envisaged.

Brad Smith down with what looks like a calf problem and with Liverpool having used all three of their substitutions will they have to play the remaining four minutes with 10 men? The Aussie gets up to continue but could that lead to some lasting damage?

Lee Holmes off and Joel Grant on for the home side. They will be sensing a replay at this stage.

Olejnik denies Teixeira from close range. Liverpool have eight minutes to complete the comeback. Ojo wants a penalty after being felled in the area, and on first assessment it looked nailed on but it looks as through Troy Brown gets the ball in the challenge.

Joe Mcguire on for Liverpool as Tiago Ilori departs, meaning both Lucas Leiva and Adam Lallana will remain on the bench. Thirteen minutes left.

Goal: Exeter 2-2 Liverpool (Brad Smith)

Liverpool take advantage of another lapse in the Exeter back-four. Davies loses his footing the box and when Ojo's cross is cleared on as far as Smith he lashes the ball past the despairing Olejnik.

Jerome Sinclair off and Sheyi Ojo on. Ojo has been on loan at Wolves but slightly more pertinently why has Adam Lallana remained on the bench? Amazing that he remains on the bench despite him travelling to Devon.

Aaron Davies on for Riberiro and he thrashes wide in his first involvement. Liverpool have offered nothing in the first half of the second period, with Exeter looking the more likely to add to the scoreline.

Tom Nicholls takes aim from a 20-yard free-kick but Bogdan sees the ball sail over. Twenty five minutes left at St James Park, and you wonder where the next goal is coming from for Liverpool.

David Noble off for Exeter and is replaced by Matt Oakley, who knows all about the romance of the FA Cup having played in a final for Southampton.

Now Ribeiro heads wide of Bogdan's goal. Liverpool are nowhere in this tie since going behind for a second time. Exeter growing as the tie goes on.

Jamie Reid has been in the thick of the action in this second half and he almost releases strike-partner Nichols but Liverpool survive. Change for the visitors as Ryan Kent is replaced by Pedro Chirivella.

How has Benteke not scored? Brannagan cross from the left and the Belgian stoops, heads goalwards but Olejnik makes a fine point blank save.

The second half is only three minutes old and should Exeter have a penalty? Ribeiro goes through and slaloms past Brad Smith but he trips himself up and Stuart Attwell dismisses the appeals.

Exeter finally out for the second 45 minutes. Game under way with no changes for either side.

Liverpool's players out very early for the second half. You'd be tempted to speculate they have been given a rollicking.

Half time: Exeter 2-1 Liverpool

Incredible first half of FA Cup football. Exeter twice take the lead, including in the dying embers of the first half through Lee Holmes' effort direct from a corner. Tom Nichols and Jerome Sinclair earlier exchanged goals within a four-minute spell amid a stunning half of football. Bring on the second half.

Goal: Exeter 2-1 Liverpool (Lee Holmes)

Final minute of normal time at the end of the first half and the Grecians have the lead back. lee Holmes swings in a corner from the right and it goes over Bogdan and sails into the net. The Liverpool goalkeeper made a mess of the cross and Exeter have retaken the lead. Dramatic end to the first 45 minutes.

Riberio has return to the Exeter team tonight and he almost restores the hosts' lead when he connects with Holmes' cross, but it bonces agonisingly wide.

Kevin Stewart is one of three debutants in the Liverpool side tonight and he comes into the game with a deflected shot from range which is saved by Olejnik. Five minutes until half time in a largely even contest.

Holmes wins a corner off Randall with a cross from the left. Exeter continue to play the ball on the floor, which is admirable, and you can see why as the subsequent set-piece fails to threaten.

David Noble almost puts Exeter back in front. Ilori can't clear a cross from the right and Noble reacts first but he skies his effort from eight yards. Half an hour on the clock.

FA chairman Greg Dyke in the stands for tonight's opening third round tie. it has been a decent opening 28 minutes but the game has settled into a pattern of healthy Liverpool possession. Exeter being kept at arms length.

Connor Randall is one of the more experienced heads, comparatively, in this Liverpool side and he goes on a mazy run before his cross shot goes wide of goal. Exeter finally show something going forward since the goal but a corner comes to nothing.

The hosts have resorted to feeding on second balls in an effort to get a foothold in this game. Liverpool have controlled things through Kent, Brannagan and Teixeira; nullifying the lower league opposition.

Three minutes and 36 seconds separated Exeter and Liverpool's goals and it means we have a real cup tie on our hands. Since the equaliser it has been all Liverpool and Teixeira has had a shot deflected behind.

Goal: Exeter 1-1 Liverpool (Jerome Sinclair)

Exeter lead for just two minutes before Liverpool draw level. Benteke wins the ball in the area but when he goes to ground Sinclair reacts first and tucks beyond Olejnik to net his first Liverpool goal.

Goal: Exeter 1-0 Liverpool (Tom Nichols)

Just nine minutes in and Exeter have lift on in the third round. Jose Enrique is badly exposed at the back and when the cross comes in Nichols peals away and pokes the ball beyond Bogdan.

Very much nip and tuck in the opening minutes in Devon. Exeter with much of the ball, and despite the surface keeping the ball on the floor. Liverpool biding their time.

Under way at St James Park. Great atmosphere being made by both supporters as you would imagine.

Who should we look out for in this Liverpool team then? Ryan Kent has dazzeled in League One with Coventry City while Jerome Sinclair has a firecracker of a left foot. For Exeter, don't look any further than David Noble, midfield orchestrator.

St James Park is latched onto the back of the local train station, with a steep drop down the back of the main stand. Will Liverpool drop off the cliff tonight? Both teams are on their way in Devon.

Paul Tisdale on BBC TV: "It's the FA Cup so anything can happen. I don't know a great deal about the Liverpool team. They are Liverpool players and they are playing in a Liverpool shirt. We know what we have to do to play our best. We have nothing to lose. We are a different club and this is in opportunity to show we're different to show we can play. There has been a lot of interest abut that is a high quality problem."

Jurgen Klopp on BBC TV: "Not all of them I've seen a lot of. We have special problems so we need special solutions. They know each other, a lot of them played together in the youth and this is the future of Liverpool. They have trained often together but the FA Cup lifts from special stories. In our situation we try everything to get into the next round. This is the only team I could present tonight. We are always in talks with the medical department but we had to react to our situation, it is not normal that we have the situation with the centre-backs."

Enough about Liverpool's team and let's turn our attention to Exeter. Paul Tisdale is among the most respected managers in the Football League and says he is in the midst of building the fifth team of his 10-year tenure. The League Two side fight for their lives each and every year and though they have pedigree in this competition having previously faced Manchester United, they are very much in the unknown against Premier League opposition. Their recent form isn't great either, having lost their last four games in a row.

Danny Murphy on BBC Radio Five Live: "It would be a catastrophe if Liverpool lose. Regarding the starting XI, midfielder Joe Allen, who hasn't had many minutes, could have played and James Milner could have also played. He could have played his best keeper. Christian Benteke is the only senior player asked to start the game."

Jurgen Klopp has a rich history in cup competitions from his spell in Germany, including reaching the final of the Champions League, but has he underestimated the importance of the FA Cup tonight, with a team fitting of a pre-season game rather than a competitive fixture? Arsenal travel to Anfield in midweek and clearly the focus is on that but there could be quite a reaction should things not go there way.

Plenty has been made of Liverpool's injury problems, particularly those hamstring problems with seven of the 12 players on the sidelines having suffered the same injuries. Interested to hear potentially why? IBTimes UK have spoken to an expert on such matters to learn why the Reds are hamstrung.

There is no doubt Liverpool are really dicing with potential FA Cup humiliation tonight at St James Park after ringing the changes. Needs must for Jurgen Klopp, whose side face Premier League leaders Arsenal in a needlessly arranged set of top flight games in just four days. Many teams are beset with problems amid the festive schedule, won't someone just thing of the players?

Spot the injury crisis in those two teams tonight. Liverpool name a starting eleven with 22 appearances for the club with three debutants in among them including Ryan Kent and Tiago Ilori who have recently returned on loan. Christian Benteke, who has made 14 of those appearances, is the captain. Exeter won't half be buoyed by that team.

Teams:

Exeter: Olejnik, Woodman, Noble, Ribeiro, Holmes, Nicholls, Moore-Taylor, Reid, Nichols, Tillson, Brown.

Liverpool: Bogdan, Randall, Enrique, Smith, Ilori, Brannagan, Stewart, Kent, Teixeira, Sinclair, Benteke

Teams should be with us any moment now but in the mean time let's have a look at how we expected both teams to line up for the game.

Christian Ribeiro and David Noble are both expected to play for the hosts Exeter after returning for the first time since November but there is no place for David Wheeler who has an ankle injury.

Phillipe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren, Kolo Toure and Jordon Ibe have all joined Liverpool's lengthy injury list, meaning Jurgen Klopp will name an experimental line-up. The recall Tiago Ilori is likely to win his debut at the heart of the defence.

The oldest cup tournament on the planet reaches the third round on its 135th anniversary with English football awash with the magic of the famous competition. The FA Cup has thrown up a series of David against Goliath ties upon the entry of the elite clubs and none more so that tonight's curtain raiser. Exeter City need not be patronised on their big night but nine places above the foot of the Football League there is no doubt they are tonight's underdogs. Their opponents are five-time European champions Liverpool who travel to Devon injury-ravaged and without a recognised senior centre-back. We have all the ingredients for the cupset at St James Park and team news is on the way.