Shrewsbury Town rally for shocking FA Cup draw with Liverpool

Shrewsbury Town rallied for a shock 2-2 draw against Liverpool in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday, forcing a replay of the match to determine which team will advance.

Jurgen Klopp fielded a heavily rotated starting XI for the runaway Premier League leaders, with Harvey Elliot, Divock Origi and new arrival Takumi Minamino starting up front.

Liverpool had a 2-0 lead early in the second half, but substitute Jason Cummings scored a pair of goals late on to bring the League One side level and force a replay.

It was one of Liverpool's most promising youngsters that opened the scoring on the quarter hour when Curtis Jones latched onto a through ball from Pedro Chirivella and calmly tucked it away past Shrewsbury keeper Max O'Leary.

Shrewsbury had a golden opportunity to equalise when Shaun Whalley broke in behind the Liverpool backline, but Adrian, deputising for Alisson, made a fine kick save to preserve his team's 1-0 lead.

Despite conceding over 70 percent of the possession to the Premier League visitors, Shrewsbury fashioned several chances on the counter and defended well as Liverpool took a 1-0 lead into half-time.

- WATCH! FA Cup replay: Shrewsbury force replay with Liverpool

Unfortunately for the League One hosts the second half got off to a terrible start when Donald Love inexplicably turned a Liverpool cross into his own net less than a minute after the restart to put his team two down.

Shrewsbury were given a lifeline in the 64th minute when Liverpool's Yasser Larouci was whistled for a foul in the penalty area and Cummings stepped up and beat Adrian to cut the lead to 2-1.

Cummings then scored a surprising equaliser in the 75th minute, slipping a low line drive past Adrian at the near post to the delight of the home support.

After the match he said: "I could have got a hat trick. It was a dream come true against the best team in the world. Going to Anfield is what it's all about."

Klopp brought on Mohamed Salah in hopes of avoiding a replay, but the home side hung on and will now travel to Anfield to see who will advance to the fifth round of England's oldest annual cup competition.

"We don't have enough time to say all the things which weren't right today," Klopp said after the match. "It just didn't look like it was 2-0 on the pitch. It looked like we were 2-1 down.

"But well deserved for Shrewsbury, it was the minimum they deserved. Congratulations to them."

The German manager also hinted that there was a good chance that he'd once again field a young team for the replay, which will take place on Feb. 4 or 5 during a planned break for his senior players.

"We intend to honour the original idea of the break," Klopp said. "We have respect for the players' welfare and they need this time off. We got a letter from the authorities in April last year asking us not to organise anything during the week of the break and we haven't.

"We have given the players the time off, and some are going away. They will still be keeping fit, but they do not have to play football that week and they do not have to come in to Melwood."

Liverpool are next in action against West Ham on Jan. 29 to make up their game in hand in the Premier League.