Queens Park Rangers came from 2-0 down to defeat Liverpool 3-2 at Loftus Road on Tuesday night.
The R's inflicted a ninth league defeat upon the Reds this season, who lie in a lowly seventh five points behind sixth place Newcastle United.
Liverpool dominated a goalless first half in which Paddy Kenny denied Luis Suarez and Dirk Kuyt squandered a good chance.
Their supremacy prevailed early in the second half when Uruguayan Sebastian Coates scored his first goal in English football, executing a fantastic scissor kick to give them the lead.
Suarez hit the woodwork for the umpteenth time this campaign before Dirk Kuyt doubled the lead after Kenny had denied Stewart Downing.
But Kenny Dalglish's side's aerial difficulties - which were exposed by Stoke City at the weekend - were on display again. Shaun Derry halved the deficit with 13 minutes remaining before Djibril Cisse, who won two trophies on Merseyside, nodded in an unlikely equaliser.
QPR 3-2 Liverpool gallery:
The capitulation and comeback was completed when Jamie Mackie took advantage of some woeful defending from Jose Enrique - who failed to intercept a through ball - to nutmeg Reina for a dramatic 90th minute winner.
Liverpool, whose home record has seen them win just five from 14, lost their eighth away match out of 15 games on the road in Shepherd's Bush.
Dalglish has guided the club to its first trophy in six years and an FA Cup semi-final against Everton or Sunderland is also on the agenda.
However his managerial adequacy in the Premier League is questionable. Liverpool had aspirations of Champions League qualification, but had they not won the League Cup they may have missed out on Europe entirely for a second successive season.
Andy Carroll, a £35m signing with multiple punchlines, may be cast adrift in the summer. That the club put in an enquiry to Manchester City in January as to whether they would be willing to conduct a swap deal with Carroll, in exchange for Carlos Tevez, underlines the doubt at Anfield over the ex-Newcastle United striker.
Daniel Craig, shooting the latest James Bond film "Skyfall", was in attendance
QPR, who leaped out of the relegation zone, have an unenviable run-in which consists of visits to Sunderland, West Brom, the two Manchester teams and Chelsea as well as home fixtures against Swansea, Tottenham and Stoke.
Their last win before Wednesday night came on 21 January against Wigan, and Mark Hughes has struggled to galvanise a club many had deemed as good as down.
But the newfound resilience on display at Loftus Road will spark optimism at the Hoops' prospects of an immediate return to the Championship.