Relief all round for Bellamy as goal famine finally ends

CRAIG BELLAMY is not a footballer who normally elicits sympathy — too many on and off field indiscretions over the years have made sure of that.

Yet the Welsh international striker, fresh from scoring the first Premiership goal for his new club against the one he left in a £6.5m transfer this summer, spoke frankly afterwards of the mental stress that the barren run in front of goal had placed upon him.

Opposition supporters will find it hard to empathise with a 27-year-old international footballer but Bellamy was clearly speaking with a large degree of relief and not only because his headed equaliser, from Fabio Aurelio’s 63rd minute corner, rescued a point for a lacklustre Liverpool team.