Birthday boy Robbie turns back the clock

Liverpool 1 Bolton 0

Benitez brought Fowler back to Anfield precisely for moments like this. Confronted by an awkward, if unimaginative, Bolton, and struggling to find their own rhythm, Liverpool were crying out for a moment of inspiration that would maintain their fading hopes of claiming the runners-up spot.

That moment was never likely to come from the frustratingly ineffective Peter Crouch and Djibril Cisse, and it took a typically instinctive effort from Fowler on the stroke of half-time to keep the Merseysiders in sight of Manchester United.