Liverpool FC 2 – Wigan 1
Wednesday night saw a huge mosaic reading "Shanks the Legend" unveiled to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bill Shankly’s glorious reign at Anfield.
Illustrious names from Liverpool's past including Kevin Keegan and Ian St John made their way to the centre circle at half time and were joined by Shankly's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to hear a moving rendition of Amazing Grace from two Scottish pipers.
It was a moving, fitting tribute, the sort that few clubs do so well as Liverpool, a team more in tune with their history than most.
Unfortunately the nostalgia that engulfed Anfield did not quite extend to reviving the brand of football made famous by Bill Shankly, but there were no complaints from Rafa Benitez with a much-needed 2-1 win against Wigan.
David Ngog was central to Liverpool’s best moments as an attacking force during a first period that could be kindly described as uneventful and, with better fortune, Ngog might have doubled his tally before the break.
His critics say he is not strong enough to cope with the intensity of 90 minutes yet and Benitez has admitted regular sessions in the gym are pencilled in to build Ngog up, but he started the second period just as strongly as he finished the first.
Evidence of that came when, on 51 minutes, he and Kuyt combined thrillingly on the right, Ngog firing an instant cross back to his strike partner after an adroit flick sent him scurrying away; unfortunately, Kirkland’s parry was as spectacular.
There is no doubt much of the ovation that swept around the stadium when he was replaced by Torres midway through the second period was for Liverpool’s number nine but few could dispute his efforts deserved recognition.
Ngog has had his detractors in an uphill battle to prove his worth as a stand-in for Torres, but the numbers may start dwindling after another lively performance and opportunistic finish in the 10th minute.
Liverpool's nerves should have been jangling more than ever in the 74th minute, when Pepe Reina lost a free-kick under pressure from Paul Scharner and saw the ball drop to the feet of unmarked substitute Jason Scotland on the edge of the six-yard area. In a bloomer that had echoes of Ronny Rosenthal's miss at Villa Park, the Wigan striker managed to volley against the bar.
Torres made him pay five minutes later, latching on to a misdirected header by Emerson Boyce and sprinting clear before drawing Kirkland and sidestepping his challenge.
Titus Bramble blocked his mishit shot on the line, but Torres was coolness itself as he calmly picked up the rebound and wrong-footed Bramble before forcing the ball home.
Torres is on the brink of reaching 50 League goals faster than any other Anfield player. Given that he has another 10 games to come up with the one goal he needs to eclipse post-War centre forward Albert Stubbins, his place in Liverpool history looks assured.
'It is a fantastic achievement by Fernando,' said Benitez. 'I knew he was tired after the Arsenal game, and I told him it might be best to start on the bench, then go on near the end, and so it proved. It didn't matter that we could have been a bit more relaxed and could have scored more goals. It was a win, and that is all that mattered.'
Charles N'Zogbia cut inside three challenges to fire an injury-time reply past Reina, but it came too late to trouble the home side.
