A last-minute penalty from Youri Djorkaeff gave Bolton victory in a five-goal thriller and Houllier could not contain his anger over the basic errors which cost his side the chance to defend the only piece of silverware they won last season.

"We let the fans and the club down and there is no excuse. We didn't deserve to go through and we let ourselves down," Houllier fumed.

"I'm angry with my players and I'm not happy with the performance. We wasted chances, made basic errors and shot ourselves in the foot after equalising then conceding more goals.

"The passing was not good enough, and credit to Bolton, they took their chances. The game was there to be won and we didn't take it. I'm so angry and the players will know that when we come in tomorrow."

Liverpool were joined on the scrapheap by last year's beaten finalists Manchester United.

But Sir Alex Ferguson at least had the excuse of having fielded a second string side in the 2-0 defeat by First Division leaders West Bromwich Albion.

A spectacular 6th-minute scissor-kick volley from Swiss wing-back Bernt Haas and a well-placed header from Scott Dobie, 46 seconds after he came off the bench ten minutes into the second half, made sure of West Brom's place in the draw for the quarter-finals.

The Baggies could have won even more convincingly but for a superb first half penalty stop by United's number two goalkeeper Roy Carroll from Jason Koumas.

"You're always in the game at 1-0 down but the second goal -- with the experience West Brom have got -- meant it would have been difficult to beat them after that," Ferguson acknowledged.

Despite the defeat, the United boss said an accomplished first start by youngster Phil Bardlsey at right-back represented a major bright spot.

"He was outstanding tonight and that was a major plus for us."

There was no slip-up by Premiership leaders Chelsea, who negotiated their way past first division Reading thanks to a solitary 57th minute strike from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

Liverpool were always on the back foot against a fired-up Bolton.

Brazilian striker Mario Jardel gave the visitors the lead after four minutes. Danny Murphy equalised mid-way through the second half but Jay-Jay Okocha restored Bolton's lead with a trademark freekick in the 79th minute.

The tie seemed destined for extra time when Vladimir Smicer equalised again for Liverpool two minutes from time.

But Bolton were able to claim a deserved victory when Salif Diao upended Kevin Davies and the nerveless Djorkaeff converted the late penalty.

Aston Villa, five times winners of the trophy, eased into the last eight with an ultimately comfortable 3-0 win over first division Crystal Palace.

An own goal by Kit Symons after 22 minutes put Palace on the back foot and second half strikes from Gavin McCann (70) and Juan Pablo Angel (79) completed Villa's win.

Tottenham fans had double cause for celebration after a 3-1 win over Manchester City at White Hart Lane.

Darren Anderton put the home side ahead after nine minutes before Portuguese misfit Helder Postiga finally opened his Spurs account after half an hour.

Robbie Fowler gave City hope ten minutes from the end but Frederic Kanoute, who had missed Spurs previous six matches with an ankle injury, came off the bench to stroke home a third for the home side in the final minute.

Australian goalkeeper was Middlesbrough's hero in a penalty shoot-out victory over Everton at the Riverside.

Schwarzer saved Everton's third penalty, from Leon Osman, to send his side through 5-4 after two hours of action had failed to produce a goal.