English Premiership
West Brom down Liverpool
2012-04-22 19:50
Liverpool - West Bromwich Albion earned a first
win at Anfield in 45 years on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool
that saw the hosts continue their recent poor league run.
Liverpool
dominated the game and created enough chances to score a handful of
goals, but instead it was Peter Odemwingie who netted the winner in the
75th minute to give West Brom manager Roy Hodgson a satisfying return to
his former club.
"It really was a magnificent rearguard action
and the other great satisfaction for me today, of course, was the
support I got from both sets of fans," said Hodgson, who was sacked by
Liverpool last year after a six-month stint in charge. "I was a bit
concerned coming back here. Everyone said 'you'll get a decent
reception' and I was really pleased they treated me so well.
"Obviously
I didn't repay them too well by coming away with a victory but it was
nice that both sets of fans today gave me the reception that I was
really rather hoping for."
His replacement at Liverpool, Kenny
Dalglish, was left ruing his team's problems in front of goal after
twice hitting the woodwork and wasting a slew of other opportunities.
Liverpool
have won just one Premier League game at home in 2012 and scored only
six goals in seven matches. Playing without the injured Steven Gerrard
on Sunday, the Reds dominated possession but again couldn't convert that
into goals.
Dirk Kuyt, whose future at Anfield has been the
subject of much speculation this week, set the tone in the 10th minute
by dragging a shot wide when he had to at least hit the target. Luis
Suarez's cross-shot failed to either test goalkeeper Ben Foster or find a
teammate in the six-yard area and when he did have a shot parried by
Foster, the rebound was blazed over by Rodriguez.
Andy Carroll
headed wide, Suarez nodded a looping effort onto the roof of the net and
Daniel Agger had a close-range shot turned behind.
West Brom
were restricted to two chances in the first half, but Liverpool needed a
brilliant save from Pepe Reina - returning after a three-match
suspension - to keep the visitors from going ahead.
The Spain
international produced an instinctive one-handed save low to his left to
stop Chris Brunt's 28th-minute volley before blocking Liam Ridgewell's
shot when Graham Dorrans' corner dropped in the six-yard area.
Liverpool
kept pressing after the break, with Jordan Henderson smashing a shot
against the crossbar with Foster well beaten. Suarez produced a
trademark weaving run along the byline before firing over, with
Rodriguez also volleying into the Kop.
West Brom struck in the
75th, after Glen Johnson's attempts to wriggle out of a tight spot deep
on the right of defense saw him give the ball away to Youssouf Mulumbu,
who played in Odemwingie to shoot past Reina.
It was only the Baggies' second goal in 12 visits to Anfield - the last coming when Garth Crooks scored in a 4-1 defeat in 1985.
Liverpool's
onslaught continued, with Jonas Olsson blocking a certain goal for
Carroll and Foster claiming Suarez's narrow-angle shot at the second
attempt.