Steven Gerrard came off the bench to inspire Liverpool to victory over Newcastle at Anfield to move level on points with Chelsea and keep their top four dream alive.
Gerrard entered the action on the hour with the scores level and secured the points 17 minutes scoring the crucial third after Craig Bellamy’s brace had put the hosts into the lead. A Daniel Agger own goal had given the Magpies a shock lead after 25 minutes only for the Welsh international to score from close range and equalise just before the half hour. Bellamy put home side into the lead on 67 minutes before Gerrard struck 13 minutes from time to move Kenny Dalglish’s side up to fifth as they caught up with Chelsea on points. For Alan Pardew he watched his players slide to seventh in the table following a fifth defeat in eight games.Newcastle hadn’t scored at Anfield since a Patrick Kluivert goal in 2004 and you’d have to go back a decade further for their last win on Merseyside which came in 1994 in the days of Kevin Keegan and Andy Cole.
Demba Ba is the new hero at St James’ Park is chasing his 15th goal of an impressive season following his free transfer from West Ham. The Senegal international hardly had a touch in the first half as Liverpool dominated penning the visitors back with Stewart Downing having a penalty appeal turned down after his header supposedly hit Ryan Taylor’s arm. Charlie Adam tried his luck from 30-yards before Downing forced Tim Krul into a low save with a strike from a similar distance. With both teams cancelling each other out in midfield it was going to take either something special or a massive stroke of luck for a goal to materialise. The latter certainly came into play as Newcastle broke the deadlock against the run of play with Taylor’s cross from the box being flicked on by Yohan Cabaye before hitting Ba and then Agger before nestling in the back of Pepe Reina’s net. The lead lasted barely four minutes with Downing’s in-swinging cross finishing off by Bellamy after a brief moment of pinball in the Magpies penalty area.
It was the home side who started the brighter after the break although the only notable effort on goal saw Downing whistle one wide of Krul’s goal from 25-yards. However they finally got their reward for an enterprising start to the half with Bellamy giving them the lead from a free kick after Cheick Tiote was hardly adjudged to have fouled Agger. The former Magpies striker did brilliantly to bend the ball over the wall although his cause was helped somehow by Danny Simpson blocking Krul’s path as he attempted to keep the ball out. It was back to the walls time for the away side now and the game was almost put to bed by one of their own with former Toon striker rising above Mike Williamson to meet right wing Gerrard’s cross only to see the ball cannon back off the cross bar. Newcastle almost levelled three minutes later after Ba latched onto Cabaye’s elegant through ball but was thwarted by Martin Skrtel who raced back to clear the strikers dink over Reina off the line. Their chances of a comeback were ended seven just minutes later though with Gerrard latching onto Jordan Henderson’s through ball and sliding the ball past Krul to put the Red’s right back into contention for a top four finish.
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