By Matt Rumble
Steven Gerrard inspired Liverpool romped to victory over Newcastle United and climbed to fifth place in the Premier League.
Gerrard struck late on after being introduced as a substitute to seal a Liverpool victory which ended a run of six consecutive home draws.
Craig Bellamy struck twice earlier in the game to bring Liverpool back after a deflected Yohan Cabaye goal had given Newcastle the lead.
The two sides started the game separated by one point and one place but Newcastle had won only once in seventeen visits to Anfield and the hosts were looking to kick start their season.
They had to do that without talisman Luis Suarez, who was serving a ban for making an offensive gesture towards Fulham fans following Liverpool’s defeat at Craven Cottage two weeks ago.
Jay Spearing returned from suspension to start in the centre of a five man midfield which also included Craig Bellamy, while fellow former Newcastle man Andy Carroll was on his own up front.
However, it was the away side that started brighter and they frustrated the home crowd by retaining possession in their own five-man midfield, with Cheick Tiote showing his class by running the game in the early stages.
Liverpool’s lack of a goal threat was exposed when bright work from Craig Bellamy down the left resulted in a cross being fired across goal by Jose Enrique, which would have been a simple finish had a Liverpool striker been inside the six-yard box.
Liverpool’s most likely breakthrough seemed to be down the flanks, with Stewart Downing and Bellamy looking most likely of their attacking players and a raking cross from Downing left Krul flapping under pressure from Carroll.
But just when Liverpool were getting on top it was Newcastle who opened the scoring with a fortuitous goal after 25 minutes which their solid start had deserved.
Haris Vuckic, making his second league start of the season, charged down an erratic Glen Johnson clearance and the ball was played to full-back Ryan Taylor who put in a searching right-footed cross.
Frenchman Cabaye made a rare foray to flick the ball towards goal and Agger inadvertently diverted it past a wrong-footed Pepe Reina.
However, Newcastle’s lead was short-lived and Liverpool were level five minutes later thanks to Craig Bellamy’s 150th goal in English football.
A rash foul by Jonas Gutierrez on the rampaging Glen Johnson led to a series of crosses for Liverpool, the fourth of which by Charlie Adam saw the ball break to Welshman Bellamy and he kept his composure to fire a low shot through a crowd of players and into the corner of the net.
The hosts were now well on top and continued to put the away side under pressure, with Martin Skrtel very nearly replicating his goal at Villa Park two weeks ago with by flashing a header wide from another Liverpool corner.
The second-half was ignited when Cabaye jumped in on Spearing following a rash tackle reminiscent of that which got the youngster sent off at Fulham, with referee Lee Probert opting to keep his cards in his pocket despite protests from the Liverpool players.
Newcastle had started the second-half dominating possession and restricting the hosts to threatening raids down the flank but that all changed when Gerrard was introduced in place of Adam on the hour mark.
He made an immediate introduction by dancing round Gutierrez before firing a cross which Carroll was inches away from diverting goal bound.
Moments later they did combine, with another raking ball by Gerrard falling to a clean through Carroll 18 yards out, but his touch averted him and the ball fell into the arms of Krul.
However, moments later Craig Bellamy showed Carroll how it was done to give Liverpool the lead following a mix up in the Newcastle defence.
Another marauding run by centre-back Agger resulted in him being bought down by Tiote, whose protests fell on deaf ears. Gerrard surprisingly stepped away from the free-kick, allowing the inform Bellamy to strike at goal.
Newcastle defender Danny Simpson went back onto his line and was immediately followed by Carroll who took the opportunity to make his presence felt in front of Krul, who was left helpless in his efforts to save Bellamy’s strike.
The visitors almost responded immediately and a clever effort by Demba Ba looked destined for the net before Skrtel charged back to rescue the ball and hook it off the line.
It looked set to be another frustrating night for Carroll personally when yet another Gerrard cross found the former Magpie perfectly in the six-yard box but his header crashed back off the crossbar.
Bellamy’s night then took a turn for the worst when an inadvertent elbow from Coloccini left him with a cut to the head and he was replaced by Dirk Kuyt on 73 minutes, just before Gerrard’s impact was compounded by a brilliant comeback goal.
An incisive move saw Jordan Henderson slot the rampaging Gerrard through on goal and he maintained his composure to slot the ball past the onrushing Krul and seal Liverpool’s fourth home victory of the season and take them above Arsenal into the Europa League spot.
