Liverpool - 3 Birmingham City - 1 It might not have been perfect, but this was definitely better. Liverpool awake today upwardly mobile, their flirtation with mid-table forgotten and pursuit of Champions League qualification revived. On Merseyside, there is hope again.
Instinct in these parts may still be to shirk from suggestions that to gain fourth place would be as good as it can possibly get this year but, for those reluctantly embracing reality, the prospects appear rosier from the relatively heady heights of sixth. Birmingham departed angrily, bemoaning a bizarre penalty decision which roused the home side from lethargy, but here was evidence that even Liverpool's luck may have turned.
Steven Gerrard, his focus rather aimless - as was his team's - in the opening half-hour, found rhythm thereafter to set a more upbeat tone. "Steven led by example," said Gerard Houllier. "He brought impetus to our play. We didn't shy away from reality at half-time. It wasn't good enough from my side, but I said to Stevie he hadn't played in the first half, so he should still have the energy. He did and the whole team turned things round. There was more belief in what they were doing."
With City struggling to contain the home side's reinvigorated approach, the substitute John-Arne Riise skimmed a cross from the left flank which Harry Kewell, diving exhilaratingly in front of Jamie Clapham, headed into the far corner to establish Liverpool's advantage. That restored the swagger to the stride, Dietmar Hamann promptly guiding Gerrard's corner goalwards only for Clapham to scoop off - television replays suggested from behind - the line. Vladimir Smicer later struck the bar from 25 yards. It mattered little.
That timely victory completed with such a sumptuous goal, Salif Diao's cross controlled and scissor-kicked brutally into the corner by Emile Heskey, added to the sense of occasion.
Few present thought the England striker capable of such majesty, but it was a jaw-dropping and uncharacteristic manner in which to score a 100th career goal. In Michael Owen's prolonged absence, Liverpool will need Heskey to maintain such form though there was as much to admire in the performance of Florent Sinama-Pongolle. The 19-year-old is an infuriating opponent, his jet-heeled presence unsettling a City back line.
Pesky to the extreme, the striker did enough to prompt Kenny Cunningham to lean on him illegally in the area 10 minutes from the interval, earning a penalty Liverpool at the time had barely deserved. The teenager has now been involved in five high-profile penalty incidents in the last month, two of which - against Manchester United and Middlesbrough - were not awarded. Here he was fortunate.
"Would we have got that at the Kop end? Would we heck," growled Steve Bruce, who watched Gerrard slide in the spot-kick and cancel a City lead which had stood for barely two minutes. "The antics of the striker didn't help. He was on the floor more than he was on his feet out there. I haven't a clue what it was for. It's not even debatable."
Add to that the fact Hamann had one foot in play when taking a throw-in in the build-up and there was good reason for Birmingham to feel aggrieved, even if they had their own profligacy to blame for not gleaning more from a spirited first quarter. Sami Hyypia's fluffed back-pass had sent Christophe Dugarry clear, though the Frenchman never recovered from a lumbering first touch and poked the ball behind.
Moments later, David Dunn swung a centre over from the right and Stan Lazaridis thumped a header goalwards which Chris Kirkland turned aside. Mikael Forssell's sixth goal of the season - slammed into the roof of the net from point-blank range after Robbie Savage's free-kick had fizzed over the muddle in the six-yard box - was as good as it got.
"We were a bit ugly at times," acknowledged Houllier, "but I don't mind winning ugly."
