Torres sparks Liverpool´s late show Written by: AFP  |  |
| | Liverpool´s Fernando Torres celebrates scoring past Fulham goalkeeper Antti Niemi during their English Premiership football match at Anfield, Liverpool, north-west England. Liverpool won the game 2-0. |
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LIVERPOOL, England (AFP) - Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard struck in the dying minutes to give Liverpool a 2-0 win over Fulham at Anfield on Saturday.
Antti Niemi had threatened to dent Liverpool's title ambitions as Fulham's veteran Finland keeper produced a string of spectacular second-half saves to frustrate the hosts.
But substitute Torres, who had only been on the pitch 12 minutes, eased the tension after turned visiting captain Aaron Hughes before hitting his eighth goal for the club in the 82nd minute.
And Gerrard sealed Liverpool's first home win in the league since September 1 from the penalty spot two minutes later after Peter Crouch had been fouled by Carlos Bocanegra.
It left Liverpool three points behind joint leaders Arsenal and Manchester United in the table.
Rafa Benitez, who was taking charge of his 200th match with Liverpool, saluted Torres's match-winning cameo role.
"We knew they had fresh legs but we had Torres's quality. That was the difference," Benitez said. "He has made a good start and hopefully he will score more goals."
"We needed to be patient and keep passing the ball. We had a lot of chances but we couldn't score until the end.
"I didn't know I had been here for 200 matches. It's good and I hope to be here for another 200 or even 400 more."
Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez admitted the late goal were a hammer blow. "The lads are devastated," he said. "I thought we were quite comfortable, then Torres does some great work, as you'd expect from someone who cost the best part of 20 million pounds.
"The second one wasn't a penalty. Yet again a referee has made a mistake against us but we are getting used to that."
Benitez sprang a major surprise before kick-off when he named an unchanged starting line-up for the first time in 13 months.
The Spaniard was persuaded to keep faith with the same side which crushed Besiktas 8-0 in the Champions League four days earlier, which meant seven-goal leading scorer Torres was once again left on the bench.
It was only the second time in his spell as manager at the club. Yet Benitez must have wished he had opted to make changes as he watched his players produce a disjointed first half performance against a team which had failed to win in 26 visits to Anfield.
Niemi was forced to parry a powerful low effort behind for a corner from fellow countryman Sami Hyypia in the sixth minute while Crouch was denied his first Premier League goal eight months by the woodwork on the stroke of half time.
Yet that was about all Liverpool could muster in a frustrating opening 45 minutes for the hosts.
Fulham were certainly more resilient than Besiktas and did not look like a team which had gone 14 months without an away win in the league.
The London club arrived at Anfield on the back of their best run of form since Sanchez, the former Northern Ireland manager, took over.
They were unbeaten in their previous three outings and might have taken a shock lead had Jose Reina not produced a flying save to deny former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy in the 15th minute.
But it was Niemi who was the busier of the two keepers in the second half as Liverpool upped the tempo in an effort to break the deadlock.
Niemi produced a string of top-class saves to frustrate the hosts. Andriy Voronin was twice denied by the 35-year-old, while Yossi Benayoun, who scored a hat-trick against Besiktas, was denied a place on the scoresheet by Niemi's finger-tips.
But Benayoun was guilty of a bad miss in the 55th minute as he fired over from inside the six-yard area after man-of-the-match Niemi had produced another wonderful save to keep out a free-kick by Brazilian defender Fabio Aurelio.
With the clock ticking down and home fans growing increasingly restless, Benitez sent on Spanish international Torres for the final 20 minutes in place of Voronin and the change did the trick.
Within 12 minutes the club record signing broke the deadlock with his fifth league goal for Liverpool after cleverly turning Hughes inside the Fulham penalty area.
Gerrard guaranteed victory from the spot - his fifth goal in his last six outings - after referee Steve Tanner had adjudged Bocanegra to have fouled Crouch.