RAFALUTION

by Team Talk 18 November 2006

Liverpool's wait for an away win in the Premiership this season will go after a 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough despite dominating the game.

The Reds at least left Teesside with a first away point since the opening day of the season, but they will feel they should have ended their miserable run of results on their travels.

Dirk Kuyt blasted wide before the break and Craig Bellamy saw a goal-bound header blocked by substitute Robert Huth before Daniel Agger forced a superb save from Mark Schwarzer with a 59th-minute piledriver.

And it took a magnificent goal-line clearance by Jonathan Woodgate to deny substitute Peter Crouch a late winner with an 83rd-minute header.

However, while Rafael Benitez's men were left to rue missed opportunities, they could have headed back home empty-handed but for a remarkable escape.

Jose Reina did well to block Jason Euell's close-range header but, when the ball fell to Aiyegbeni Yakubu in front of goal, he completely missed his kick.

The omens were not particularly promising for the visitors as they arrived on Teesside without a league win away from Anfield all season to meet a team which had already disposed of Chelsea and Everton.

Indeed, the Reds had won only twice in the Premiership at the Riverside Stadium in 10 attempts.

However, after an ordinary start, it was they who took the game to their hosts and created the vast majority of the meaningful openings in front of a much-improved crowd of 31,424.

Spanish midfielder Mark Gonzalez set the tone, cutting in from the left to fire a right-footed shot straight at Schwarzer with just three minutes gone and then curling a 20th-minute cross on to the roof of the net.

However, Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt perhaps should have put them in front a minute later when partner Craig Bellamy chested down Steven Gerrard's long ball, but he fired wide of the the target.

Gerrard, lining up in his preferred central role, had taken time to get to grips with opposite number George Boateng but, as his influence increased, so did the threat posed by his team.

Xabi Alonso fired wildly over on 32 minutes after Jermaine Pennant had laid off Bellamy's cross, but the former Arsenal midfielder forced a good save from Schwarzer six minutes later with a well-struck shot on the turn.

John Arne Riise warmed then goalkeeper's hands with a long-range piledriver, but still the Reds could not break the deadlock.

For their part, Boro enjoyed some success down the right, where James Morrison and Andrew Davies gave Riise a tough time, but with Yakubu again playing as a lone striker, Reina had to deal with a handful of dangerous crosses, but little else.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate was forced to make a change at the break when he replaced the injured Davies with Robert Huth. The £6million central defender slotted in at right-back and was to play his part within minutes.

Kuyt's appeals for a penalty after he went down under Boateng's challenge were waved away, but it was his side which enjoyed a remarkable escape on 53 minutes.

Yakubu found Morrison wide on the right and then made his way into the penalty area as Euell headed the winger's cross towards goal.

Reina got down superbly to block Euell's effort, but could only serve the ball up to Yakubu, who inexplicably failed to make contact with the goal at his mercy.

However, the visitors would have been in front on 55 minutes had Huth not thrown himself into the path of Bellamy's goal-bound header, and it took a fine save from Schwarzer to prevent Agger's long-range missile from screaming into the top corner four minutes later.

The Australian was the hero again after 68 minutes when he got down smartly to keep out Gonzalez's volley, and he was relieved to see Emanuel Pogatetz deflect Kuyt's cross wide of the post rather than inside it three minutes later.

Southgate rang the changes as he introduced Lee Cattermole for the injured Boateng and last weekend's match-winner Massimo Maccarone for Morrison, but they could do little to stem the tide.

However, Woodgate had to head off his own line after Crouch, on for Kuyt, got his head to a deep Gonzalez cross and looped the ball over Schwarzer.

The visitors hammered away as the clock ran down and Crouch saw another header saved in injury-time, but they could not find a way past the Boro defence.