LIVERPOOL – John Pantsil’s second half own goal helped Liverpool to a nervous 1-0 win over Fulham at Anfield on Wednesday. It was Liverpool’s first back-to-back victories since beating Bolton and Chelsea almost three months ago as Kenny Dalglish savoured his first win at Anfield in his second spell as Liverpool manager.
Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Wolves last weekend proved that Dalglish can get the best out of the same squad Hodgson failed to inspire in his brief reign and they are now back up to seventh in the table. They were helped by the return of captain Steven Gerrard who had missed Liverpool’s last three games after being sent off against Manchester United in an FA Cup loss at Old Trafford which marked Dalglish’s return.
After the interval, Liverpool finally found the breakthrough they craved as they took the lead thanks to a huge slice of luck. A Torres shot deflected off Brede Hangeland onto the post and then Pantsil clumsily tried to clear but could only slice into his own net. That killed Fulham’s momentum, even though Liverpool did not go on to dominate in the manner they would have liked.
Alex McLeish saluted Nikola Zigic after the Serbia striker came off the bench to lead Birmingham into the League Cup final. McLeish admitted he feared Birmingham’s Wembley dreams were over when Carlton Cole fired West Ham into a 3-1 aggregate lead at half-time of Wednesday’s semi-final second leg at St Andrew’s.
But the Blues boss responded by sending on giant targetman Zigic and the former Valencia star finally delivered a dominating display after a lacklustre start to his career in England.
