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Given that Liverpool had just had an excellent win away at Deportivo La Coruna as well as boasting Britain's only 100% home record, plus Blues having won just 1 of their last 21 Premiership games, an away victory seemed highly unlikely. Darren Anderton's first goal for the club though ensured that such an unlikely eventuality is exactly what happened.
Steve Bruce again made changes to the side in an attempt to rectify Blues' alarming descent down the table. Stephen Clemence and Muzzy Izzet returned to the side at the expense of Stan Lazaridis and Dwight Yorke. This meant Julian Gray returning to left-back, Clemence partnering Robbie Savage in the middle of the park with Damien Johnson on the right and Jesper Gronkjaer on the left, and Izzet just behind Emile Heskey up front.
Just before kick-off the travelling Blues fans were singing 'We'll score again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll score again, some sunny day.' The words kind of summed up the confidence prior to the game - even the most optimistic of Blues fans would have taken a point from the game if offered it before kick-off. However, Liverpool were without Djibril Cisse and Milan Baros, so it wasn't easy to see where their goals would come from either.
Neither team were particularly cohesive early on, but it was Liverpool who looked the stronger. Blues were woeful at clearing danger, barely finding one of their own men with most clearances, and as such the home team were able to build up some sustained pressure. Maik Taylor saved well from Harry Kewell and Xabi Alonso early on before Blues got going. When they did, Heskey flicked an Izzet cross wide and into The Kop.
Then within minutes of each other, both Luis Garcia and Izzet should have put their respective sides ahead. A mix-up between Matthew Upson and Gray let in Garcia who fired over when one-on-one with Taylor. Then, moments later, Gray was involved at the right end as he played in Izzet who sprung the offside trap, but he seemed surprised to be in the position he was, hesitated and collided with Chris Kirkland.
That was about that in a scrappy first-half, and the second half started in much the same vain. Neither side looked very convincing, but it was still Liverpool who looked the stronger. Garcia played in Dietmar Hamann who fired straight at Taylor when one-on-one again. You were beginning to get the feeling it wasn't the home side's day. This theory was backed up when midway through the second half they failed to put the ball into the back of the net on three occasions in a goalmouth scramble following a corner.
On 76 minutes the breakthrough came, and perhaps against the run of play it was Blues who got the goal. Savage and Izzet took a quick corner, and Savage crossed to the far post. Upson won the header and headed goalwards, but the ball was scrambled off the line, but only as far as substitute Anderton who tapped home from a yard out to start a chorus of 'A goal! We finally scored a goal!' from the travelling Blues fans.
As you'd expect from a team in a precarious position, having taken the lead Blues went to bits for about five minutes, constantly conceding possession and inviting Liverpool onto them. However, once they settled there wasn't too much danger, and Anderton and Kenny Cunningham - who was magnificent throughout - showed their experience late on with some good 'time killing' tactics.
At the end of the day, Blues have played better than this lately, but it needed anything at all to kick start the season. A scrappy, lucky victory against Liverpool at Anfield is probably just about the right thing - it doesn't matter how you win, as long as you win. Hopefully now the team can kick on and start to put some distance between themselves and the bottom three.