'The three points are everything now'
It's a well-worn football cliché to describe the closing months of the campaign as the 'business end of the season', a period when performances must often take a backseat to the necessity for three points.
Three points were the glowing carrot at the conclusion of a testing evening for Liverpool on Wednesday as Fulham worked their visitors until the very last seconds in their efforts to secure a share of the spoils.
Defensive slip-ups had twice handed the Cottagers an advantage on their home turf, only for the Reds to roar back through Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and ultimately, with the match-winner, Steven Gerrard.
For all of the various tribulations experienced during the 90 minutes in West London, returning to Merseyside with a victory to speak of was more important than any other factor according to Martin Skrtel.
"We are all happy because it wasn't an easy game for us," the Slovakian centre-half explained to Liverpoolfc.com following the final whistle.
"We were losing twice and got back into the game to get three points. We're very happy about that. We know that the performance wasn't the best, but the most important thing is the three points.
"We can defend better; we conceded two goals and a few times we didn't do our job. But I think we showed the spirit and desire to win. At the end of the day, we got the three points. At this stage of the season, that's the most important thing.
"They did well; they were defending well and trying to play on the counter-attack. The pitch and the wind also helped them because it wasn't possible to play in those conditions.
"But the conditions were for both teams. If they carry on with the performance they showed today, they can get out of the relegation fight.
"We don't want to talk about the title - there are still too many games to play. We are going from game to game, trying to get as many points as we can and then we'll see where we finish at the end of the season. Our main target is to get into the top four and I hope we can get there."
As he has on so many previous occasions, Gerrard retained his composure to expertly plant his last-gasp spot-kick beyond the reach of the Fulham goalkeeper and delight the nearby Kopites.
"It's not easy to take a penalty in the last minute and score," Skrtel continued. "But he showed how big he is and what an important player he is for us."
One thing always holds true regarding this stage of a season - the fixtures arrive 'thick and fast'. Indeed, Liverpool must now re-align their thinking to an FA Cup tie with Arsenal on Sunday.
The Reds' No.37 commented: "We have got three days to recover and get ready for Arsenal. It will be a different game than last Saturday. We want to go to the next round of the FA Cup so we'll do our best."