Davey left grateful for Moyes' part in Liverpool's downfall

Barnsley have not won their four Championship games since their cup victory over Liverpool, but Davey (left) sees no reason why his side cannot beat Chelsea (GETTY IMAGES)

The Barnsley manager Simon Davey rubbed salt in Liverpool's FA Cup wounds by hailing David Moyes' part in their downfall and his own path to football management.

The Welshman achieved "the best moment of my career" by masterminding Barnsley's fifth-round triumph at Anfield that puts the Tykes into the sixth round thanks to an injury-time winner from Brian Howard. But it was the manager of Everton who won praise from Davey.

Moyes is believed to have given Davey help with his preparation for the trip to Anfield and Swansea-born Davey said: "I owe David Moyes a lot. When I joined Preston from Carlisle, David was still a player. But he became assistant manager and then manager.

"My career was ended when I was 27 after a back injury. David gave me the job running the youth team, and I will always be grateful. When your career ends like that you worry about where the next pay cheque is coming from, and I will always be thankful for what David Moyes did for me. Now here I am with a side one step away from the FA Cup semi-finals."

Davey's other claim to fame is his part in David Beckham's formative years when the soon-to-be England international was sent on loan to Deepdale. "I played a few games alongside Beckham," Davey said. "And although I was the man who took our free-kicks, Beckham asked me in his first game if he could take one. I stepped aside and he belted it in. That's how it all started for him."

Davey, a Liverpool fan as a boy, said he was surprised and encouraged by seeing Steven Gerrard on the bench when the teams were announced. He said: "I looked at the sheet and saw that Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Jose Reina were not involved. When I put the names of their players up on the board before the game I felt we had a chance, it gave us hope."

And Davey explained the Tykes' tactics, saying: "We made sure we stopped the supply up to Peter Crouch, and got into their faces. We played Crouch well all day and then Stephen Foster managed to get above him to head our equaliser."

Behind Foster, it was a stunning display from the on-loan goalkeeper Luke Steele that kept Liverpool at bay. Steele arrived at the club only on Thursday, due to a serious knee injury to Heinz Muller, while Tony Warner was Cup-tied.

Davey said: "We needed to get someone in quickly, and we had been keeping tabs on Luke. When I rang Tony Mowbray at West Brom asking about him, the lad was in his car straight away. The chance of making his debut at Anfield was a pretty good incentive. He had a couple of training sessions, but still didn't know the names and faces in front of him. So he went on the internet on Friday evening to study the players and tried to learn their names. Then he went out and produced a string of world-class saves."