Morrison double stuns Liverpool - Morrison

Liverpool 2 Birmingham City 2

Clinton Morrison grabbed two goals in the last half hour – the second in the fourth minute of injury time – to give Birmingham a famous point.

For Liverpool it was a case of another two-goal lead thrown away after Newcastle had clawed their way back from two behind at Anfield last week.

But this time Steve Bruce’s Premiership newboys were the ones leaping for joy in front of delirious fans.

Morrison was vilified here a couple of years ago when he was at Crystal Palace and had criticised Michael Owen’s goalscoring ability.

But he returned to take revenge while Owen at the other end was seeing chance after chance go begging.

Great entertainment though it was, Liverpool know this can’t go on. Before the Newcastle game they were ahead twice at Blackburn before conceding a draw, so they have now effectively lost six points in three games.

Danny Murphy and Steven Gerrard had Liverpool on cruise control before Morrison’s double strike. For Birmingham, having beaten Leeds in their previous game, it underlined that their return to the top flight may not be as fleeting as many at first feared.

Houllier dumped Abel Xavier in favour of fit-again Jamie Carragher and once again left Emile Heskey on the bench.

Birmingham’s side was virtually unrecognisable from the one that lost in the FA Cup at Anfield last term – only Darren Purse survived from that starting line-up.

And after a recent fine win over Leeds, they were intent on another shock at Anfield.

But Birmingham spent the opening minutes chasing shadows as they were hit by a tidal wave of attacks, sweeping from side to side at lightning pace.

Michael Owen was robbed of a great scoring chance after he had charged down a Nico Vaesen clearance, only to be judged by a linesman some 30 yards away to have handled.

But in all Liverpool’s swirling action and the dominance of Steven Gerrard and Didi Hamann in midfield, chances were rare thanks to Kenny Cunningham and Purse’s diligence at the back for the visitors.

In fact, Birmingham managed to grab their breath and get Clinton Morrison into the game thanks to much vigorous running and pressing from Robbie Savage in particular.

But having survived the initial barrage, Birmingham found themselves a goal down on 25 minutes thanks to a clumsy foul by Liverpool-born Bryan Hughes on the all action El-Hadji Diouf.

Up stepped Danny Murphy to send a curling free kick over the wall and in off the post.

On 35 minutes it should have been two when Gerrard robbed Hughes in Liverpool’s half and found Owen with a superb 40-yard pass. The striker cruised into the box and saw his shot blocked by a combination of Vaesen and Purse.

Owen regained possession, went to the by-line and saw John Arne Riise somehow lash his laid-back cross hopelessly wide from just 12 yards.

Once again, though, when Liverpool were right on top, they relaxed enough for Birmingham to get some possession in midfield and pin them back with some good passing of their own.

Even so, a minute from the break Murphy broke from deep, fed Owen who took the ball away from Vaesen and saw his shot hacked away from the six-yard box by Kenny Cunningham as Riise lunged in.

Liverpool lost the injured Henchoz at half-time, and Emile Heskey came on, taking up a position on the left of midfield with Riise dropped to left-back and Traore into the centre of defence.

And it didn’t take long for Liverpool to put right some of the wastefulness of the first half when they grabbed their second with a sweeping, punishing attack on the break.

Diouf, playing despite only just returning from a trip to Senegal to see his stepfather who is dying of cancer, surged from his own half and with the defence backing away, he slipped the ball into Gerrard’s pass for the England midfield to drill home his shot off Vaesen’s despairing dive.

It could have been three when Heskey fed Owen, whose angled shot was parried by Vaesen.

Birmingham’s response was creditable. On 58 minutes Hughes launched a stunning hooked volley that Dudek matched with a wonderful mid-air block.

That inspired Birmingham even more and on 61 minutes the Premiership’s new boys did score.

Stern John created the chance on the right after Traore’s mistake, and Morrison hooked the ball past Dudek in the six-yard box.

Savage and Murphy, old mates from their Crewe days, were involved in a tremendous midfield tussle with tackles traded at ferocious speed without a hint of a problem between the pair.

Another sweeping Liverpool move saw Hamann set up Murphy for a shot against the foot of a post before Salif Diao came on for Riise.

Birmingham then made a triple substitution with Geoff Horsfield, Stan Lazaridis and Darren Carter taking over from Hughes, Damien Johnson and John.

It instantly caused them problems when Purse and then Martin Grainger had to go off for treatment, leaving their side twice down to 10 men as Liverpool pressed for the killer goal.

Liverpool put on Patrik Berger for Diouf, and virtually his first touch was a deflected shot that Vaesen needed to save smartly, as he did at Owen’s feet a minute later when Berger put him through.

But Morrison was still to strike again, sending a lopping header into the top corner from Lazaridis’ cross as Anfield was stunned into silence.