"As soon as I saw the teamsheet I thought Burnley were going to win," he said.

"It was a great result and fantastic for the town.

"People will look at the teams and notice that Liverpool fielded an under-strength side.

"But take nothing away from Burnley because you can only beat what's in front of you. Plus all the scorelines in the papers today will read Burnley 1, Liverpool 0, and that's all that matters."

And Payton hailed the defence that manager Steve Cotterill has assembled for their part in the success.

"John McGreal and Frank Sinclair are experienced players and have been superb since they joined the club, but the whole back line looked solid last night," he said.

"That's four clean sheets in a row now - 15 altogether so far this season, and to include Liverpool among those is brilliant."

JIMMY ROBSON, who scored the 100th FA Cup Final goal when Burnley took on Spurs in 1962, said Burnley deserved to win because they worked harder than the Merseysiders ...

"They got straight into it from the off and didn't let Liverpool settle at all," he said.

"There were some good individual performance and they played well as a team.

"Some say it was Liverpool reserves, but take nothing away from Burnley.

"That was Liverpool. That was the team they put out to represent Liverpool Football Club and I think everyone in the town will be walking round with their heads held high ready for the next one.

"You don't like to take Bournemouth at home for granted but the possibilities are endless."

Lancashire Evening Telegraph columnist STEPHEN

CUMMINGS hailed an inspired all-round performance ...

"From the groundstaff who worked tirelessly to get the pitch in shape, to the 11 players who showed magnificent spirit and resilience, right through to Steve Cotterill who masterminded Liverpool's downfall, they were brilliant," he said.

"Prior to the game, Benitez had defended his decision to field youngsters saying they should be the equal of Championship level players. Last night just shows how wrong he was.

"For example, we don't have anyone capable of scoring own goals as hilarious as that of Djimi Traore's."

He added: "Given what Steve has achieved, surely it's time for the board to see if some funds can be made available to him."