Carroll off mark in derby win
Andy Carroll scored his first Barclays Premier League goal of the season as Liverpool recorded a 2-0 victory over Everton in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.
Everton's cause wasn't helped by the controversial sending off of Jack Rodwell midway through the first half after a challenge on Luis Suarez, but Dirk Kuyt missed the opportunity to give the Reds a half-time lead when he later saw his penalty was saved by Tim Howard.
However, Carroll found the back of the net with a little under 20 minutes remaining, hooking in a cross from Jose Enrique from close-range.
Suarez then settled the contest with a neat finish after a mix-up between two Everton defenders inside the box to ensure Liverpool claimed local bragging rights in the 216th meeting between the sides.
A little more than 20 years had elapsed since Kenny Dalglish last led a Reds team across Stanley Park into battle with the neighbours.
On that occasion, a pulsating FA Cup tie ended in a 4-4 draw and in the build up to the game the boss quipped another four for his side wouldn't go amiss this time around - minus a quartet of goals for the opposition, of course.
Kuyt, so often the talisman on these occasions, earned a recall to the starting XI, with the Dutchman replacing Jordan Henderson in the only change made to the side that began against Wolves last weekend meaning Liverpool fielded five derby debutants.
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Steven Gerrard was again amongst the substitutes as he continues his comeback from injury.
A typically frenzied start followed referee Martin Atkinson's first whistle, with the first chance arriving on nine minutes.
Kuyt's determination saw him hook a cross in from the touchline and Suarez headed straight at Tim Howard.
Everton swiftly countered and Pepe Reina was required to produce a fine save to turn an aerial effort from Tim Cahill over the crossbar. After the resulting corner was cleared, the Blues worked the ball back into the danger zone via Leighton Baines and Sylvain Distin was off target with an effort before Louis Saha drilled wide moments later.
The Blues had certainly looked the more threatening in the opening exchanges, but they were reduced to 10 men with just 23 minutes on the clock when Rodwell's strong challenge on Suarez in midfield was controversially deemed a dismissible offence by the referee.
It was the 20th red card shown in Merseyside derbies since the formation of the Premier League.
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Holding the numerical advantage, Liverpool began to probe in search of an opener to compound the host's frustrations - Suarez struck the side netting from an acute angle prior to Adam drilling a free-kick into the wall.
With just 60 seconds of the first half, the Reds were awarded a penalty when Suarez was upended on the corner of the box by Phil Jagielka.
Kuyt stepped up to do the honours - at the same end he memorably converted twice from 12 yards in 2007 - but on this occasion, his spot kick was thwarted by Howard's low save to his left. It was the first time the No.18 had missed a penalty since moving to Anfield.
The Everton 'keeper was beaten in stoppage time, but Adam's blast from the edge of the box left the crossbar rattling and meant parity remained intact heading into the interval.
The second half picked up where the first had ended - with Liverpool applying pressure and the Blues looking to counter.
David Moyes's side required an acrobatic goal-line clearance from Saha to prevent a Carroll header finding the bottom corner from Adam's corner six minutes after the restart. A similar chance shortly after resulted in Howard smothering on the line.
Next, a quick-thinking Enrique sent a free-kick over the top of a static Everton defence but Kuyt failed to connect properly.
Despite being down to 10, the Blues were by no means out of the contest at this point - as proven by Saha's strike that had Reina scrambling across his line on the hour.
With 25 minutes remaining, Dalglish opted to make a double change to inject new impetus into his side. Gerrard and Craig Bellamy were summoned from the bench, replacing Adam and Downing.
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And the change had the desired effect as Liverpool finally broke the deadlock on 71 minutes.
Bellamy's intelligent pass released Enrique into space inside the left-hand side of the box and the Spaniard's cross was dummied by Kuyt, allowing Carroll to scoop beyond Howard.
It was a landmark strike from the No.9 as it was Liverpool's 250th in the league against Everton and our 9,000th overall in football league and cup.
A second soon followed when a mix-up between Distin and Baines presented Suarez with a chance just yards from goal, and the Uruguayan made no mistake with a crisp finish to make sure it will be the Red half of Merseyside celebrating tonight.