liverpool's victory meant they won the trophy for the eighth time, extending their record number of victories in the competition. midfielder stewart downing was awarded the alan hardaker trophy as the man of the match. liverpool manager kenny dalglish was delighted to have won the league cup and was adamant that the club would continue to win trophies: "although we have won something today, that is not us finished, we don't want to stop here. we want to keep going. we've won it and we are going to really enjoy it. i know how much the players have enjoyed it and it gives you a wee flavour to come back and do it again." the victory meant that dalglish became the seventh manager to win all three major domestic trophies in english football. goalscorer dirk kuyt was equally delighted to have won the competition: "we wanted this so desperately, this is why i came to anfield. to get my first medal is great." meanwhile, captain steven gerrard had mixed emotions, due to his cousin anthony gerrard missing the deciding penalty: "one of anthony or i was going to be sad, one was going to be celebrating. it happens. i've got mixed emotions at the moment because i feel for anthony and cardiff."