Dons keeper James Shea may have watched videos of Steve Gerrard taking his trade-mark free-kicks in preparation for the FA Cup clash, but when faced with the real thing there was nothing he could do.

The Liverpool skipper delivered the decisive blow from 25 yards to put the Reds 2-1 ahead in the second half.

Boss Neal Ardley had warned Shea to be ready for a Gerrard cracker, and although the 23-year-old got his finger-tips to the ball, he could not keep it out.

Shea, who has been ever-present between the sticks this season, said: “It is what Steven Gerrard does.

“He can go either way so I wasn’t too sure where he was going to go. He’s put it up and over the wall and it was a great free-kick.

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“We looked at videos of his free-kicks, but he can put it either side and I didn’t see it until it was over the wall, so it was a hard one.”

Ardley said: “We showed the lads some video footage of the goals Liverpool concede and the goals they score – including Gerrard putting a free-kick in the top corner.

“At that point I turned round to Shea and said ‘Be ready for that’ – and then Gerrard does exactly that.”

Shea did not dwell on being beaten from distance and went on to make a string of saves from Rickie Lambert, Philippe Coutinho and Mario Balotelli.

His performance earned him plaudits from his Premier League opposite number Simon Mignolet.

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Shea, a summer freebie from Harrow Borough, said: “I got Simon’s shirt at the end of the game, which was a nice touch and he took mine as well.

“He said I had a good game, which was nice of him. It is always nice to get that from another goalkeeper, especially from one of such a high standard.”

He added: “We’re disappointed not to have at least got a draw and taken them back to Anfield, but now we have to concentrate on the league – that’s our priority.

“We’ll have a couple of days’ rest, before we go again on Thursday ready for the match on Saturday at Stevenage.

“It’s another game of football that we have to put ourselves in for – the league is our priority, we want to get as close to the play offs as possible, and hopefully get in them.”