Fernando Torres ended his six-match goal drought with the winner in a 2-1 triumph over Blackburn to provide a much-needed boost for Liverpool.
Goalkeeper Paul Robinson had kept the Reds at bay until Sotirios Kyrgiakos' 48th-minute header and although a Jamie Carragher own goal quickly levelled things up, Torres struck only his second of the season soon after.
It ended a run of seven matches without a victory in all competitions and although it was still not enough to lift Liverpool out of the bottom three the result came as a welcome relief. Torres, starved of service, has looked woefully out of form with his only goal coming in the 1-0 win over West Brom at the end of August.
However, if the Spain international could have chosen any team to play against it would have been Rovers, against whom he has now scored five times in their last four meetings. And it can be no coincidence Liverpool's only two Barclays Premier League victories have been as a result of Torres applying the decisive finish.
It was the very least representatives of New England Sports Ventures, in the crowd after their £300million buy-out just over a week ago, will have wanted to see.
Source: PA