Ian Rush scores five as Liverpool beat Luton 6–0 at Anfield

Ian Rush went into Luton Town's visit to Anfield on 29 October 1983 having scored in only two of his previous 11 games. Liverpool, the champions, were in their first season under Joe Fagan, promoted from the coaching staff to replace Bob Paisley, and had managed only four goals in their first four league games at home.

Fagan made two changes from the side that had scored four against Brentford in midweek. Rush came back up front in place of Hodgson, and Steve Nicol came in on the left of midfield for the suspended Johnston.

Five

Rush scored after 75 seconds, finishing from close range when a blocked shot dropped loose. Three minutes later he had a second. Sammy Lee and Kenny Dalglish worked a short free kick, Dalglish chipped the ball in, Graeme Souness headed against the crossbar and Rush was there again.

The hat-trick came after 36 minutes. In the Liverpool Echo's words, "Nicol had reached the goal line on the left and his pinpoint cross was headed home firmly by the delighted Welshman." Two minutes later the Luton goalkeeper Les Sealey "blundered badly", and Dalglish's low shot bobbled over him and in. It was 4–0 at half-time.

Ten minutes into the second half Alan Kennedy hit a long ball over the Luton defence, and Rush met it "with a stunning right foot volley that gave Sealey no chance at all". The fifth came two minutes from time. Sealey blocked a point-blank effort from Souness, and Rush, in the Echo's phrase, was "on hand once again to rap in his fifth to make it 6-0".

Luton had three shots on target all afternoon, and Paul Walsh hit the bar in the last minute. It was their worst defeat in almost 20 years. There were no television cameras at the game.

The boots

The Liverpool history site lfchistory.net records that before he went out that afternoon, Rush soaked his rock-hard boots in the bath. He wet them before every game after that.

Five in a game put him on a short Liverpool list that includes John Miller in 1892 and John Evans in 1954. Robbie Fowler joined it ten years later.

The season

The same site calls 1983–84 "perhaps Rush's best for Liverpool". He scored four against Coventry in May and finished with 47 goals in all competitions, which won him the Golden Boot as Europe's top scorer. He was also the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year.

Liverpool won the league for the third season running, beat Everton in a replay to win the League Cup and won the European Cup on penalties against Roma in Rome. No English team had won three major trophies in one season before.