Morrison grabs injury-time equaliser for Birmingham

Liverpool 2, Birmingham 2

Danny Murphy and Steven Gerrard had put Liverpool in cruise control before Morrison struck in the 60th minute. The Ireland international forced home the equaliser with just seconds left.

After 17 minutes a long cross from Steven Gerrard was met by John Arne Riise to send a header over the bar almost from the edge of the box.

A minute later Morrison took a Jeff Kenna ball and with some clever footwork almost engineered an opening.

After 20 minutes Danny Murphy came in from the right, jinked into space on the edge of the area, and forced a low save from Vaesen.

But on 24 minutes Liverpool got their breakthrough. Diouf was bowled over on the edge of the box by a clumsy tackle by Hughes and Murphy stepped up to curl the free kick over the wall and in off the post.

Diouf was involved down both flanks as Liverpool built a sweeping move of a dozen passes. It ended with the ball being cleared to Djimi Traore who lashed a swerving 20-yard shot over the bar.

After 35 minutes, Steven Gerrard robbed Hughes in Liverpool's half and found Owen with a superb 40-yard pass. The striker cruised into the box and saw his shot blocked by a combination of Vaesen and Purse. Owen regained possession, went to the by-line and saw Riise lash his laid-back cross hopelessly wide from just 12 yards.

Once again, though, when Liverpool were right on top, they relaxed enough for Birmingham to get some possession in midfield and pin them back with some good passing of their own.

A minute from the break Murphy broke from deep and fed Owen who took the ball away from Vaesen and saw his shot hacked away from the six-yard box by Kenny Cunningham.

Liverpool lost the injured Henchoz at half-time, and Emile Heskey came on, taking up a position on the left of midfield with Riise dropped to left-back and Traore into the centre of defence.

And it didn't take long for Liverpool to put right some of the wastefulness of the first half when they grabbed their second with a sweeping break.

Diouf, playing despite only just returning from a trip to Senegal to see his stepfather who is dying of cancer, surged from his own half with electric pace and with the defence backing away, he slipped the ball into Gerrard's path for the England midfield to drill home his shot past Vaesen's despairing dive.

It could have been three when Heskey fed Owen, whose angled shot was parried by Vaesen.

Birmingham's response was creditable. After 58 minutes Hughes launched a stunning hooked volley which Dudek matched with a wonderful mid-air block.

That inspired Birmingham even more and after 61 minutes the Premiership's new boys did score.

John created the chance on the right after Traore's mistake and Morrison hooked the ball past Dudek in the six-yard box.

Having thrown away a two-goal lead at home last week against Newcastle, there was concern all around Anfield now except among the vociferous away support.

Savage and Murphy, once team-mates at Crewe, were involved a tremendous midfield tussle with tackles traded at ferocious speed.

Another sweeping Liverpool move saw Hamann set up Murphy for a shot against the foot of a post before Diao came on for Riise.

Birmingham then made a triple substitution with Geoff Horsfield, Stan Lazaridis and Darren Carter taking over from Hughes, Damien Johnson and John.

Liverpool put on Patrik Berger for Diouf, and virtually his first touch was a deflected shot which Vaesen needed to save smartly, as he did at Owen's feet a minute later when Berger put him through.

Savage was booked after 88 minutes for catching Gerrard in full flow.

And in the fourth minute of injury-time Morrison powered in a header that flew into the top corner from a Lazaridis cross.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Traore, Murphy, Hamann, Gerrard, Riise, Owen, Diouf.

BIRMINGHAM: Vaesen, Kenna, Cunningham, Purse, Grainger, Devlin, Savage, Hughes, Damien Johnson, John, Morrison.