Benitez running out of time

STEVEN GERRARD tried manfully to inspire Liverpool’s Champions League charge, but Rafael Benitez was forced to settle for only a point as they became another top seven team to suffer at the hands of Alex McLeish’s parsimonious reputation at St Andrew’s on Sunday.

Only a faultless record from now until the end of the season will be enough to enable the Spaniard to deliver on his guarantee of fourth place.

Gerrard’s second half-intervention generated only his seventh Premier League goal of a worryingly unproductive season from the England international, ahead of this summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa, but it was not enough to bring an end to McLeish’s proud undefeated home record that extends back to September.

Liverpool are now without an away win in seven league outings, their worst run away from Anfield in four seasons and they remain four points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City, having played a game more than Roberto Mancini’s side, and Benitez knows they are running out of room for manoeuvre. “We had to win all six games before this,” he said. “Now we have to win our last five games to get fourth place.”

Benitez was also forced to substitute an ineffective Fernando Torres 25 minutes before full-time in a deliberate attempt to save the legs of the Spanish international ahead of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final encounter with Benfica claiming the striker was “exhausted” but even without their talismanic striker, David Ngog, his replacement, could easily have claimed all three points, but the Frenchman could not accept two inviting opportunities after Liam Ridgewell had equalised.

For all Benitez’s promises of a fourth place finish and Torres’ assertion they needed to win their remaining six games, the lack of urgency in Liverpool’s first-half performance was alarming and two holding midfielders far too cautious – they will surely have to be more adventurous to achieve Champions League qualification.

Even if Birmingham had already deprived Man United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City of points in front of their own supporters, Liverpool should take little consolation from the fact that St Andrew’s had proved equally impregnable to their rivals especially after taking 36 painful and laborious minutes to force Joe Hart to make a save, but McLeish can be rightfully proud.

“It is a tremendous record and I am delighted for the players the way they have played at St Andrew’s all season,” he said.

Maxi Rodriguez will take some time to work out how he did not register his first Liverpool goal at the end of an incisive move begun by Pepe Reina’s throw out to Dirk Kuyt which was as unerring as Phil Taylor hitting treble 60.

Yossi Benayoun and Torres combined to set up the Argentinian’s volley from six yards, but somehow Hart managed to push the shot up on to the bar and away to safety. That was as exciting as it got in the first 45 minutes, but the game burst into life with two goals in nine second-half minutes.

Gerrard is the first to admit his form has been far from the high levels he sets himself this season and the fact that his 47th minute intervention was only his second league goal this year underlines his concerns. There was more than a hint of good fortune in the way Glen Johnson’s attempted shot from the edge of the area found its way to Gerrard after the England international’s corner had been headed clear by Stephen Carr.

There was nothing remotely fortunate about the way Gerrard wrong-footed Lee Bowyer and produced devastating power in his right boot to defeat Hart from an acute angle, but Liverpool are nothing if not wonderfully inconsistent and Gerrard’s hard work was undone by dreadful defending with no-one within five yards of Ridgewell as he bundled in James McFadden’s cross.

“When you concede a goal it is always disappointing, but that was really bad defending,” said Benitez.

The Liverpool manager has now failed to beat Birmingham in eight attempts and it could have been worse. Lee Bowyer should have claimed all the points for Birmingham, but contrived to miss from six yards when unmarked and Ngog was equally culpable from two inviting positions late on.

Bowyer was dispossessed on the edge of his own area by Kuyt before Rodriguez’s pass set up Ngog, who shot wide from 15 yards and in stoppage time the Frenchman missed from closer range after Gerrard’s long diagonal pass.

A goal from the youngster, who dived to win a penalty for Liverpool in the fixture at Anfield earlier in the season, would have been an insult too far for McLeish and Co.

MATCH RATING: ** – Poor pitch did not suit Liverpool, but Birmingham’s endeavour was worthy of a point.

REFEREE: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire) 6 – Few contentious decisions to deal with and did his best to allow a poor game to gather some kind of momentum.