Mark Schwarzer is itching to be No1 at 40

Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer is ready to accept Roy Hodgson's challenge of playing top-class football into his forties.

Schwarzer will be 38 in October but at Liverpool yesterday he performed with all the agility of someone 10 years younger. Combine that attribute with the kind of precise positioning and faultless anticipation that is only gained through experience and you have the ingredients to make up one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League.

Liverpool certainly had cause to rue the Australia international, whose succession of world-class saves forced Reds boss Rafa Benitez to concede that fourth place, and entry into next season's Champions League, is now beyond his team.

There was a point-blank save from Maxi Rodriguez, a diving parry to deny Javier Mascherano, another parry from a fierce shot by Alberto Aquilani, and a low stop from Ryan Babel who turned Jonathan Greening to find space to shoot hard for the bottom corner.

Hodgson was delighted with his side's resolute display — coming just three days after a sensational Europa League win over Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg — even though Fulham's only shot came 55 seconds into added time when Damien Duff tested Pepe Reina.

But the manager reserved special praise for Schwarzer, who he snapped up on a free transfer from Middlesbrough in 2008. He said: "Mark did a fantastic job. If you don't have a goalkeeper who commands his area and who can take shots that he should take, then you lose the game."