'Pool fail stamp dominance in City draw

Even without Michael Owen, suffering from his latest hamstring strain, and Robbie Fowler, kept back on the bench after his heroics in the FA Cup defeat of Leeds United last Saturday, Liverpool still looked as threatening as they were talented, with Heskey and Jari Litmanen continually forcing the defenders in front of them into hurried, nervous clearances.

But the return from suspension of Tiatto at least gave City some bite in midfield and Darren Huckerby showed a willingness to run at the Anfield rearguard. It meant Gerard Houllier's side could not feel truly comfortable, despite the fact that they enjoyed most of the possession.

Liverpool played with a calm confidence, McAllister poking and prodding from the middle and Smicer looking content in a free role. Concentration on attempting to diminish the Red tide was a priority for Royle's players.

Yet in the 39th minute, Huckerby got exactly the kind of opportunity he had been hoping for when Shaun Goater pushed the ball forward into space.

For all the City forward's trickery, however, he could not evade Sander Westerveld's perfectly-timed challenge, the goalkeeper leaving his line to block Huckerby on the edge of the box just when it seemed the £2.5million signing from Leeds might provide an unexpected lead for his side.

Despite that intrusion, Liverpool hardly missed a beat. Even without displaying the kind of qualities that have marked many of their recent performances, they still looked the more likely to take the lead and the inevitable happened in the 43rd minute. And the goal, finished off by Heskey, had some class about it.

Litmanen, who has settled so comfortably into the Anfield team since his arrival from Barcelona last month, produced a brilliant reverse pass which found Smicer on the left. He had all the time to pick out his man and Heskey had no trouble in directing his header past Weaver to collect his 17th goal of the season.

Royle responded at the interval by replacing defender Andy Morrison with his latest acquistion, Andrei Kanchelskis. Just the presence of the on-loan Rangers winger lifted his team-mates, for inside two minutes of the second half they were level.

Goater found himself with room to breath on the right side of the box and tried a cross which hit the covering Dietmar Hamann. The ball spun back into the striker's path and this time he did better, delivering a low cross for the unmarked Tiatto, who lashed a right-footer high into Westerveld's net from 15 yards - the first goal the Dutchman had conceded in seven hours.