Steven Gerrard scored his 100th Premier League goal but Liverpool were forced to settle for a point after a 2-2 draw against 10-man Newcastle United at St James' Park.
Fresh from guiding England to the World Cup in midweek, Gerrard became the third Liverpool player to reach the landmark - following in the footsteps of Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler - when he calmly converted from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute.
The spot-kick was awarded when Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa found himself on the wrong side of Luis Suarez following Daniel Sturridge's excellent ball over the top and put his hand on the Liverpool striker's shoulder to bring him down in the penalty area.
Referee Andre Marriner immediately had the red card out of his back pocket, but it took him some time to brandish it as Newcastle's players surrounded the official and urged him to speak with his assistant before Yanga-Mbiwa eventually trudged off the turf.
The Magpies had taken the lead in the 23rd minute with a long-range special from Yohan Cabaye as the midfielder collected the ball on the halfway line and advanced towards goal, with his spectacular strike having enough dip and movement as it bounced on the turf just in front of Simon Mignolet to take it out of reach of the keeper's despairing dive.
Shooting on sight was a definite policy for the home side in the opening 45 minutes, with Mignolet called into action early on to deny Mathieu Debuchy and again towards the end of the half to keep out an effort from Moussa Sissoko.
Moments before Liverpool's leveller Suarez and Sturridge had linked up well before Krul denied the former with a low stop, and the Uruguay international was typically lively throughout, seeing one header nodded away from the post by Davide Santon before setting up Mamadou Sakho for another effort which he could not keep on target.
Glen Johnson had Tim Krul diving to cover his near post early in the second half as he cut inside and fired in a left-foot strike, while Newcastle showed they still posed an attacking threat as it took an outstanding sliding challenge from Martin Skrtel to deny Loic Remy.
And Liverpool were stunned in the 56th minute when substitute Paul Dummett, who was sent on for Sissoko to shore up the defence after the red card, arrived unmarked behind the sleeping Reds defence to volley home Cabaye's free-kick into the box, marking only his second Premier League outing for the Magpies with his first goal for the club.
With Liverpool dominating possession but failing to trouble Krul, Brendan Rodgers made his first switch with Luis Alberto joining the fray in place of Sakho in the 63rd minute.
Cheick Tiote wasted a glorious chance to test Mignolet during a three-on-three break as he shot wastefully wide from range, before Krul was called into action to save with his legs from Suarez after Johnson's threaded pass into the box.
And Liverpool finally levelled thanks to their impressive strike partnership in the 72nd minute as Suarez broke into the area on the left after Victor Moses' pass and unselfishly fired over a cross which beat Krul and Sturridge could not miss with a diving header from two yards.
Suarez then clipped the top of the crossbar with a volley from inside the box before Sturridge slashed wide via a deflection from the boot of Jordan Henderson as Liverpool piled forward in search of the winner.
Raheem Sterling was thrown on for defender Glen Johnson with seven minutes remaining, but Liverpool still could not force a winner as Sturridge volleyed wide at the far post from Gerrard's superb cross.
There was still time for more drama as, in the sixth minute of added time, Krul had to make an excellent stop from Suarez's free-kick from the edge of the box which was almost the final kick of the match.
No comments:
Post a Comment