Reds left to rue seven minutes of madness

SEVEN minutes of unforgivably sloppy defending from Liverpool cost Kenny Dalglish three sorely-needed points and a victory which would have injected some belief and optimism into the ailing giants of English football.

Ultimately, it required a second-half penalty from Dutchman Dirk Kuyt to even earn Dalglish a solitary point — his first as Liverpool’s new caretaker manager — after the home side had completely dominated first-half proceedings but had only a goal from Raul Meireles to show for their superiority.

Within seven minutes of the restart, Liverpool found themselves trailing, to efforts from Sylvain Distin and Jermaine Beckford, and the prospect of Dalglish recording a third consecutive defeat in his brief, second tenure as Liverpool manager looked very real.

However, midway through the second half, Everton’s otherwise excellent American goalkeeper Tim Howard tripped Maxi Rodriguez, allowing Kuyt to step up and cap a fine individual performance with an emphatically-taken penalty.

For those Liverpool supporters of a glass half-full persuasion, the point gets Dalglish off the mark and shows that the spirit and combativeness that was so obviously lacking under his predecessor Roy Hodgson is present in their side since the Messiah returned to take over at Anfield.

But the more pragmatic among the Kop faithful — who awarded Dalglish the sort of reception that will have helped outsiders understand the unique bond that still exists between the Scotsman and Liverpool Football Club even two decades after he quit as their manager — will chose to focus upon a second-half display that was well below the standards expected of their team.

The loss at half-time of central defender Daniel Agger clearly did not help Liverpool 38 seconds after the restart when Leighton Baines sent over a dangerous far-post corner which was met by a powerful header from Distin and presented Pepe Reina with no chance of a save on the Liverpool line.

Indeed, while Everton’s few bright first-half moments had come from set-pieces, usually steered diagonally onto the head of Marouane Fellaini, Liverpool had not exactly been troubled from dead balls until the enforced removal of Agger.

Was this a lack of tactical sharpness on the part of a manager out of the game altogether for over a decade or just an isolated case of a defender losing his man?

Either way, worse was to follow after 52 minutes.

Dalglish’s opposite number David Moyes had astutely moved powerful Victor Anichebe out to the left wing, where he had a distinct height advantage over marker Martin Kelly and one he used to good effect when nodding a long ball into the area for Leon Osman.

The midfielder, in turn, showed intricate footwork in the area, committing two defenders before slipping the ball square for Beckford to curl an excellent finish past the diving Reina.

It was hard to believe these developments, such was Liverpool’s earlier superiority, one sounded after less than 10 seconds when the lively Fernando Torres forced Howard into a near-post save.

Torres thundered a shot against the post, after out-muscling Distin — no mean feat — with Kuyt planting the rebound high over the bar, via a deflection off Phil Neville just after the quarter-hour mark; before Meireles gave the home side a deserved 28th-minute lead.

Glen Johnson, filling in as an unfamiliar left-back, swung over a far post cross which found the head of Kuyt and was well saved by Howard, the rebound forcing the Everton keeper into an excellent double block as he kept out the same forward’s follow-up attempt.

But the ball broke kindly from that save directly to Meireles a step inside the Everton area, and the Portuguese drove his first goal for the club back past Howard.

There could have been more. Kuyt beat Distin in the right-hand corner and laid off for Torres who drew another excellent stop from the over-worked Howard, the keeper following up by then denying Meireles with a stooping save at the foot of his near post.

In first-half injury-time, Maxi Rodriguez shot directly at the keeper and Torres chipped just over as Liverpool looked to give the scoreline a more realistic appearance.

The misses would come back to haunt Liverpool in a second half of much interest but few clear-cut chances, save for the three goals.

Meireles, a Hodgson signing who may be the only good one the former manager made, brought another decent save out of Howard as he enjoyed an increasingly influential role in a more forward position than has been the norm for him at Anfield.

Rodriguez, too, might have done more with a header that was too close to the keeper before Torres attempted a late, audacious chip that never really looked likely to dip enough and beat Howard.

Eventually, it was a case of honours even but, in these desperate times at Anfield, it was hard to avoid the impression that Dalglish and Liverpool had been the real losers of an absorbing Merseyside derby.