Federici was given a rare start between the stick for Reading against Liverpool but came up against an in-form Torres who punished Reading in the entertaining Carling Cup third-round clash which ended 4-2.

While Manchester City and Arsenal both edged through with narrow victories, goals were plentiful at Reading's Madejski Stadium.

Yossi Benayoun broke his Liverpool duck with a goal of the highest quality, scoring past Adam Federici from distance in the 23rd minute.

Bobby Convey levelled four minutes later but Torres made the most of his run-out by firing Liverpool back in front early in the second half.

John Halls equalised in the 64th minute but Torres put the Reds in front for a third time with another fabulous finish in the 71st minute, before converting a one-on-one for his hat-trick.

A youthful Arsenal side left it late to beat Newcastle 1-0 - without Socceroo striker Mark Viduka - at the Emirates Stadium.

In the first half Lukasz Fabianski produced a fine reaction stop from Obafemi Martins on his debut in the Arsenal goal while Nicklas Bendtner looked lively at the other end.

But the match was headed for extra-time until Bendtner's headed winner with eight minutes left and the impressive Denilson fired home an eye-catching second in the closing seconds.

David Nugent made amends for a glaring first-half miss by scoring to help Portsmouth to a 1-0 win at Burnley.

Nugent wasted a glorious chance to give Pompey the half-time advantage at Turf Moor when his attempted nutmeg of Clarets keeper Gabor Kiraly failed miserably.

However, Pompey made a breakthrough when Nugent scored after 69 minutes with a well taken goal and Harry Redknapp's side held on for victory.

Manchester City snatched a 1-0 win over Norwich at Eastlands in a turgid encounter.

Forgotten man Georgios Samaras, who has been out in the cold under Sven-Goran Eriksson until tonight, struck in the 90th minute to hand his side a barely-merited victory.

Defeat was hard to take for Championship side Norwich who battled well against a lacklustre City side.

West Brom suffered a catastrophic first half against Cardiff as they lost 4-2.

Veteran poacher Robbie Fowler's pedigree was in evidence as he gave Cardiff an early lead. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair scored for the Bluebirds either side of Fowler's second from the penalty spot to hand the Welsh side a 4-0 lead.

Some Albion fans started leaving but the Baggies pulled one back before the break through Ishmael Miller, who also netted a late penalty, but it was too late for a West Brom comeback.

There was no shock at Bramall Lane as Sheffield United enjoyed a 5-0 rout against giant-killing Morecambe, but Socceroo Dave Carney didn't get a place in the squad.

After 18 minutes, Billy Sharp managed to provide some cutting edge and struck the opening goal to take the wind out of Morecambe's sails.

Sharp made it 2-0 before half-time to make the task even more difficult for the visitors. Luton Shelton (two) and Lee Hendrie finished Morecambe off.

Luton downed Charlton 3-1 after the game went into extra time - with Aussie talisman Chris Coyne unusually watching the game from the bench - whilst Blackpool secured a 2-1 extra time victory over Southend.