Gerrard’s late double flatters Rafa’s Reds

LIVERPOOL had to call on skipper Steven Gerrard as they struggled to break down a brave TNS side in the second leg of their Champions League first qualifier last night.

For long spells the Welsh side had performed heroics to leave Liverpool with faces as red as their shirts.

With Peter Crouch waiting in the wings, Liverpool were humbled and never able to produce the goal feast boss Rafael Benitez had demanded.

Gerrard came off the bench to score twice in the dying minutes to add to his hat-trick from the first leg after Djibril Cisse’s opener, but even then it could not take away the glory from the Welsh champions who played their hearts out and even hit a post, seeing another effort ruled marginally offside with Liverpool rocking.

Once again TNS’ hero was goalkeeper Gerard Doherty, who produced another string of fine saves to cap his display last week at Anfield. TNS took a well-deserved lap of honour at the end of a night they will never forget.

Liverpool had left Gerrard and Fernando Morientes on the bench and were made to toil for long periods by another spirited display by the defiant Welsh club.

In came Cisse up front, Dietmar Hamann in midfield and Boudewijn Zenden on the left as Liverpool secured a trip to Kaunas for the second qualifier next Tuesday after the Lithuanian champions’ convincing 8-2 aggregate victory earlier in the day against Faroe Islanders Torshavn.

Liverpool were being made to work harder than they would have liked, they lost possession too easily and had Benitez on the line demanding more urgency.

But after 26 minutes a mistake by Chris King allowed Cisse to send Liverpool ahead. Zenden’s cross eluded King and reached Cisse in the box, Steve King missed his tackle and the big striker lashed the ball past Doherty.

Liverpool turned up the heat after the break but Doherty then made a stunning point blank save from Carragher on 49 minutes, but as TNS fans were hailing their Irish keeper, on the other side of the box Wood brought down Darren Potter and Swiss referee Carlo Bertolini awarded a penalty.

Up stepped Hamann, and he tried a little shuffle to confuse Doherty, but only ended up with a weak spot kick that saw the TNS keeper turn the effort round a post.

TNS almost equalised after 65 minutes when Beck saw a shot hit the far post with Toner firing the rebound over. Cue the arrival of Gerrard for a limping Xabi Alonso.

Doherty continued his heroics, saving from Luis Garcia, Riise and Cisse, but TNS kept going forward and Williams thought he had equalised after 75 minutes as he fired home Nicky Ward’s pass, only to turn to see the linesman’s flag raised.

Five minutes from time it took a fierce drive from Gerrard to grab Liverpool’s second, and a minute later he stormed through again to squeeze another effort past Doherty’s fingertips for a Liverpool third.

T.N.S.: Doherty, Naylor, King, Baker, Evans (Jackson 78), Holmes, Ruscoe, Beck (Ward 68), Toner, Hogan, Wood (Lloyd-Williams 58).

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan, Hyypia, Riise, Cisse, Le Tallec (Luis Garcia 58), Alonso (Gerrard 67), Hamann, Carragher (Whitbread 53), Zenden, Potter.

Peterborough United 0 Manchester United 6

There was no fairytale ending to Barry Fry’s 31-year managerial career as Manchester United warmed up for their Far East tour with a routine victory over Peterborough last night.

London Road registered a sell-out 15,400 crowd as fans turned out in force to celebrate the former Posh boss’ testimonial match but a Ruud van Nistelrooy hat-trick, two from Cristiano Ronaldo and a Guiseppe Rossi strike saw United romp home.

United boss Alex Ferguson confirmed afterwards a bid has been received from Spanish side Celta Vigo for Old Trafford outcast Kleberson.

Leicester 0 Celtic 0

New goalkeeper Artur Boruc proved Celtic’s hero as the Hoops registered a pre-season friendly draw against Leicester at the Walkers Stadium.

On his Bhoys debut, the 25-year-old Boruc, who has six caps for Poland, demonstrated fine form as he produced a penalty save as well as a series of equally fine stops to secure the second consecutive 0-0 draw of Strachan’s reign following the Bhoys’ weekend outing at Fulham.