| REDS HELD TO LATICS DRAW Liverpool have been held to a 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium after a late Mido penalty cancelled out Yossi Benayoun's first-half strike. Mido scored from the penalty spot on his Wigan debut with eight minutes of the match remaining to earn an unlikely draw for Steve Bruce's side after Benayoun jinked in to fire home from close range at the end of the first half for Liverpool.
Lucas Leiva took down the Egyptian striker after a Wigan counter-attack and referee Phil Dowd had no other option but to indicate for a spot kick.
The result means the Reds are now two points behind league leaders Manchester United with one more game played than Alex Ferguson's side. Rafa Benitez's side have also slipped to third in the table on goal difference after Chelsea cruised to a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough at Stamford Bridge.
It will undoubtedly be looked upon as two points dropped, and the Reds will surely be disappointed after dominating for much of the match.
With his Liverpool charges playing important games in the space of seven days, Benitez took the opportunity to rotate his squad for this clash with Wigan.
Yossi Benayoun came into the side in place of Dirk Kuyt on the right wing, while Fabio Aurelio replaced Andrea Dossena at left-back and Xabi Alonso made way for Lucas Leiva in the centre of midfield.
Latics' manager Steve Bruce had no such luxury, however, and was forced into making three last-minute changes after Chris Kirkland, Titus Bramble and Antonio Valencia all pulled up with injuries.
Mike Pollitt started between the sticks, while Emmerson Boyce came in at the centre of defence and Michael Brown started in place of Valencia on the right wing.
The Reds began the match brightly and tested the Latics rearguard with a series of searching balls within the opening five minutes.
Steven Gerrard floated over a searching free-kick on two minutes which flashed past Pollitt's goal, and Benayoun showed the odd glimmer of trickery when coming in from the right wing.
With Wigan fielding a new-look starting line-up, they looked a lot less organised than what we have become used to seeing from a Steve Bruce side. Javier Mascherano enjoyed a lot of time on the ball, and the Liverpool back four were allowed to push up in support of the attacks.
Then a left-sided Ryan Babel got some space to link up with Steven Gerrard to produce Liverpool's best chance of the half so far on 11 minutes. The Dutch forward jinked past two players before threading a ball to the Reds skipper, who put in a pinpoint cross for Fernando Torres .
El Nino came agonisingly close to scoring with a glancing header, but his effort rebounded off the post and, fortunately for Wigan, to safety. That's twice the Spanish striker has hit the post in as many league games - surely it would be only a matter of time until he finally found the net.
Torres created a chance out of nothing for himself five minutes later. Picking the ball up 20 yards out with his back to goal, he turned and struck a first-time pot shot which went narrowly wide. The number nine was certainly seeing a lot of the ball.
But Liverpool were by far the superior team here throughout the first half. Never mind goalmouth action, the continuous pressure from Rafa Benitez's side restricted Wigan to only a handful of forays into the opposition's half. Their first opportunity of the match came only after 25 minutes had past, and even that lobbed header was comfortably collected by Pepe Reina.
Benayoun created another opportunity for the Reds just before the half-hour mark.
The Israeli utility man dummied from an Alvaro Arbeloa pass to allow Ryan Babel space before picking the ball up on the right-hand side of the penalty near the goal line, but his cross was just between Torres and Gerrard, where neither could get anything on it to get a shot on goal.
Lucas surged forward from midfield two minutes later and with the Wigan defence backing off, the Brazilian had a lot more time than he first thought to get a shot in. He disappointingly scuffed his effort wide despite having the space to inflict more damage.
But then Liverpool gifted Wigan an opportunity to take the lead against the run of play on 35 minutes. Five blue shirts were left unmarked inside the penalty area as a dangerous ball came in, but Emmerson Boyce couldn't get anything behind his header and Reina easily saved. The Reds were really let off the hook there.
The Latics had certainly come back into the proceedings and appealed for a penalty when Martin Skrtel seemed to take down Paul Scharner in the penalty area. But referee Phil Dowd waved play on.
But Liverpool responded to the pressure in the best possible way and took the lead through Yossi Benayoun with four minutes of the half left to play.
Mascherano brought the ball forward and did especially well to pick out Benayoun's run into the area. The Israeli kept his composure to take the ball around Pollitt before firing into the empty Wigan goal from an acute angle. A great finish from a tight angle on the right-hand side.
After scoring the winner in this fixture last year, the JJB Stadium was proving to be a very happy hunting ground for Benayoun, and Liverpool went into the break with a deserved one-goal cushion - but only after Steven Gerrard came close to getting a second on the stroke of half-time with a fantastic shot from over 30 yards out.
A testy opening to the second half ensued, with both sides hacking long passes forward but enjoying no real breaks.
Aurelio tried a long-range shot from a centrally placed, free-kick; Maynor Figueroa went on a marauding run at the Reds defence, but even though Wigan looked the brighter team, there wasn't much to shout about in the first 15 minutes of action after the break - a lot of loose passes were going astray.
But Wigan continued to improve and were starting to show some of the dangerous forays forward they penetrated Liverpool with at Anfield fixture earlier on in the season. That nail-biting 3-2 victory might have been punctuated by the always dangerous Amr Zaki, but this one seemed to be much more about a team effort from Steve Bruce's side.
They were starting to reap the benefits of a changed gameplan and really getting under Liverpool's skin.
Liverpool really needed a cushion here, and were always at risk of letting in an equaliser from an ever-improving Wigan Athletic outfit. Amr Zaki really came into the game midway through the second half after a quiet 65 minutes and looked dangerous out on the left flank.
Ryan Babel took up a much more advanced position when Fernando Torres made way for Albert Riera on 71 minutes. With a crucial match against Chelsea on the horizon, it seemed that Benitez was looking to rest his Spanish striker.
Steven Gerrard almost added a second goal for the Reds on 74 minutes. The number eight gained a couple of yards from his marker before cutting in from the right flank and hitting a fierce shot on the half volley, but the strike skidded narrowly wide.
Goalscorer Benayoun was next to make way, with Dirk Kuyt coming on with 15 minutes remaining.
With both sides cancelling each other out, this match had gone into something of a lull by the 76th minute, but then, with the game seemingly heading for a 1-0 victory, Lucas Leiva took down Jason Koumas to give away a penalty with seven minutes remaining.
Mido made no mistake on his debut to level the scores from 12 yards.
It was a bitter pill for Liverpool to swallow after dominating for so long, but no one could complain with the referee's decision to point to the spot - everyone in the ground could see that Lucas had made contact with Koumas.
The equaliser had really put the wind in Wigan's sails, and they continued to attack. Substitute Koumas nearly nicked it for the Lancashire side in injury time with a thunderous free-kick.
Liverpool will look upon this result as a missed opportunity as the match finished honours even. History might record this as a 1-1 draw, but it certainly feels like a defeat tonight. Teams Liverpool: Reina, Aurelio, Carragher, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Babel, Mascherano, Leiva, Benayoun, Gerrard (captain), Torres. Subs - Alonso, Keane, Dossena, Riera, Cavalieri, Kuyt, Agger
Wigan Athletic: Pollitt, Figueroa, Scharner, Boyce, Melchiot (captain), De Ridder, Brown, Cattermole, Taylor, Zaki, . Subs - Camara, Watson, Kingston, Rodallega, Kapo, Edman, Koumas
Referee: Phil Dowd
Conditions: Cold
Attendance: Unknown
Liverpoolfc.tv Man-of-the-Match: Steven Gerrard |
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