Reds 2-1 Boro: Doing it the hard way

Sometimes it's nice when run of the mill league games turn into epic late dramas that see the Reds prevail, often thanks to their talismanic captain.

Yesterday was one of those games and just as it may have shown Liverpool's shortcoming in wide areas it equally demonstrated their ability to win games they don't necessarily deserve to and that, as we well know, is an important quality for all sides with title aspirations.

The frantic finish was all a far cry from the bright opening from the home side which suggested this might be an easy day. But the good attacking display and the glimpses of Torres and Keane linking well produced no goals.

Bad finishing let us down and ultimately lead to the second half mediocrity that saw Mido put the visitors up front. After that we were srambling to get back into the game.

Ultimately it was the Scouse heart of the team combined with a bit of luck that got us over the line with three valuable points.

Jamie Carragher's goals are rare enough and this one, his fifth in eleven years, was easily his most important. And there's no taking it away from him either no matter how much of a deflection there was off Emmanuel Pogatetz.

From there we pushed on but as the game drifted into the 93rd minute a winner seemed unlikely. However with Steven Gerrard you can never be entirely certain of a result until the final whistle.

A screamer, in the vein of that goal against Olympiakos nearly four years ago, sent Anfield wild. We hardly expected to be celebrating in such a manner in just our second league game but that is how it turned out and few will complain when the most important thing, three points, were secured.


Now being honest there's been little to be encouraged about overall by our last two performances, three if you count the crap in Liege nearly two weeks ago but we've gained six points without playing anywhere near our best as Gerrard pointed out yesterday.

And in a league where your opening six games can be just as important as your last six that represents an encouraging start to a season where much is expected.