Liverpool fielded an understrength side and paid the penalty and ended the match with 10 men after Antonio Nunez was sent-off shortly before the final whistle for lashing out at Tony Grant.

Defeat leaves Liverpool - who were the side beaten by Burnley when they won the FA Cup in 1914 - with just the Champions League and League Cup to play for for the rest of the season.

However Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez rejected criticism of his fielding a second string side.

"I don't think it was a mistake," said the Spaniard.

"I am happy with the players, they tried. We worked hard, the squad in the League Cup (1-0 in the first leg semi-final match with Watford) was the same idea and we won but not today. All of us are disappointed with the result but that is football." His Burnley counterpart Steve Cotterill was ecstatic.

"In the end perhaps we deserved what we got on the night and we are delighted," said Cotterill, who made his name managing Cheltenham and recorded some FA Cup success there.

"It was our team ethic, we were a team tonight. We've got good individual players but they played as one of 11 tonight.

"It's probably my best night (in the cup)."

Liverpool had the better of the exchanges as the first-half wore on with Darren Potter twice and John Welsh forcing Brian Jensen into saves.

Burnley had started the brighter but only forced the under-pressure Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek into a couple of saves in the fourth minute from Richard Chaplow and Grant.

Liverpool started the second-half as they had finished the first period as the seldom used Igor Biscan fired in a shot from long range which was safely gathered by Jensen, who had been forced to change his shirt in the first-half because it clashed with the visitors strip.

However against the run of play Burnley took the lead in the 51st minute as Traore scored a bizarre own-goal swivelling almost full circle and under no pressure to prod it into his own net from Chaplow's low cross.