REDS FAIL TO CLOSE GAP ON BLUES

liverpoolfc.tv Paul Eaton 12 February 2005

Liverpool have failed to close the gap on fourth placed Everton after going down to their tenth defeat of the season at St Andrews this afternoon.
With Everton having already lost to Chelsea before the Reds kicked off, the 2-0 defeat at Birmingham will prove a bitter pill to swallow for Rafael Benitez who must have hoped his side could have reduced the gap on their city rivals to just a couple of points.

But a miserable first half performance in the Midlands rendered that scenario unlikely as Birmimgham netted two goals without reply to win the game before the break.

The Reds were their own worst enemies after 37 minutes when Sami Hyypia - making his 300th appearance for the Reds - pulled back former team-mate Emile Heskey in the area and on-loan striker Walter Pandiani slotted home the penalty to give the home side the lead.

That advantage was doubled in the final minute of the half when the lively Jermaine Pennant drifted past John Arne Riise in the area and crossed for Julian Gray to smash the ball into the back of the net with a well executed volley.

The lead was fully deserved after Birmingham prevented the Reds creating a genuine goalscoring chance whilst always looking dangerous when attacking the Liverpool half of the field.

Rafael Benitez, understandably, replaced Igor Biscan with Vladimir Smicer at the break in a change of formation which saw Steven Gerrard return to the centre of midfield and Milan Baros move from his right midfield role to partner Morientes in attack.

However, Liverpool failed to improve during the second half and went down meekly to their seventh away league defeat of the campaign.

The only chances of note in the second period came late on when Smicer drove Djimi Traore's cross high and wide and JamieCarragher saw a stoppage time header hacked off the line.

The victory ensured Birmingham became the third team this season to complete the double over the Reds and means Liverpool now have almost no room for error over their remaining games if they are to claim that coveted fourth position at the end of the campaign.

Full time: Birmingham 2-0 Liverpool