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.