Steve McMahon scored four goals in Liverpool’s 10–0 defeat of Fulham at Anfield on 23 September 1986. He also missed a penalty, striking the crossbar before completing his hat-trick from open play.
The League Cup second-round first leg brought together Kenny Dalglish’s league and FA Cup holders and a Fulham side playing in the Third Division. Liverpool had lost 2–1 at Southampton three days earlier. Back at Anfield, they were two goals ahead inside ten minutes and four ahead by half-time.
Ian Rush opened the scoring in the eighth minute. John Wark added the second two minutes later, and Ronnie Whelan made it 3–0 before the half-hour. McMahon’s first goal came just before the interval: despite the eventual size of his contribution, three team-mates had scored before him.
The second half began without an immediate addition to the score. Wark’s second goal, in the 63rd minute, started the next burst. McMahon followed with his second before the penalty offered him the chance of a third.
That opportunity went against the bar. He did not have to wait long to make up for it, scoring again to put Liverpool 7–0 ahead. Rush then completed his own double, McMahon added his fourth and Steve Nicol scored the tenth. The final six goals had come between the 63rd and 83rd minutes.
Five Liverpool players had scored. McMahon accounted for four, Rush and Wark two apiece, with one each from Whelan and Nicol. Dalglish had started the match himself, while Fulham’s player-manager Ray Lewington was also in the visitors’ side. The recorded attendance was 13,498.
The result surpassed Liverpool’s previous domestic winning margins and matched the 10–0 European victory over Dundalk in 1969. The club’s 11–0 defeat of Strømsgodset in 1974 remained a goal beyond it.
There was still a second leg to fulfil. Liverpool won 3–2 at Craven Cottage on 7 October, with McMahon scoring again, and advanced 13–2 on aggregate. His four-goal evening at Anfield had supplied the largest individual share of a tie Liverpool settled overwhelmingly in its opening match.