BENITEZ: MORI WORTH THE WAIT

PA Sport

Rafael Benitez declared the long chase to sign Fernando Morientes well`worth the wait and effort after the Spanish star netted his first Anfield goal to set Liverpool on the way to a 3-1 win over Fulham.

This was a must-win game for the Reds as they bid to cut the seven-point lead of neighbours Everton in the battle for the fourth Champions League spot.

Morientes followed up his outstanding first goal for the club at Charlton in midweek with an equally spectacular effort.

Benitez said: "We have been looking for a better level of performance and thankfully we seemed to have achieved that with three wins in succession. It certainly does a lot to replace the feelings we had after losing those three games in a week.

"And I am obviously delighted with Morientes. We needed a good target man and he has become that for us.

"He is good in the air, passes the ball well to the wings and is starting to link well with Milan Baros.

"It was a long wait for him, but he has been worth the wait. Good players make a managers' job easier. And he is a good player and a good professional.

"Each week he improved. He arrived here having not played for five months and now he is training every day and regaining his match fitness."

Benitez was happier, too, with his team's level of consistency. He said: "We have needed more consistency, and I was pleased certainly with the way we controlled the second half.

"We started the game well, had a poor 20 minute spell, but deserved the points with the way we played in the second period."

Fulham boss Chris Coleman revealed his players were furious with referee Rob Styles over the third goal because they believed he should have stopped play because of a head injury to Papa Bouba Diop.

Coleman said: "My players could see there was some blood and felt the referee should have stopped the game. Diop should have gone down but he was wandering around holding his head. But the point is that we should not have stopped until the referee blew his whistle.

"I was angry with all three goals that we conceded. We have 'knocked off'(fallen asleep) on all three occasions as the ball came into the box, and you can't do that at this level.

"I felt we were comfortable at times, we played well and I have certainly seen Edwin Van der Sar busier than that in games."