Heading in his own crosses? Well, almost...
Aug 17 2005
By Len Capeling, Daily Post
ONE of the many fabulous fables told about Dave Hickson has the flaxen-haired legend crossing the ball from the wing, diving into the Winslow for a swift half, yet still arriving back to finish the move with a stunning header.
There were echoes of Hickson - who played for both Liverpool and Everton - in the awestruck words of Middlesbrough and England defender Gareth Southgate after Saturday's game at the Riverside.
Speaking of the irrepressible Steven Gerrard, he said: "He was amazing. At one stage we began to think he was heading in his own crosses."
It certainly looked that way. Every time Liverpool created an opening, there was the unstoppable Steven powering in shots and angling in headers on goal.
The agony on the England midfielder's face at the end of proceedings said everything about Liverpool's unfortu-nate inability to wrap up a game they effectively dominated from first whistle to last.
Like his team, Steven suffered one of those afternoons when the ball simply refused to go into the net, and even when Mark Schwarzer found himself beaten - notably when Gerrard nodded the ball over the Australian keeper - a stray breeze took it away over the bar.
Gerrard, a hard taskmaster, will blame himself for not making one of his seven efforts count.
He shouldn't, because amid all the misses, Liverpool showed an appetite for battle on enemy territory that remained missing for the whole of the last Premiership season.
On Saturday, Liverpool demonstrated an ability not just to contain - utilising two banks of four with Gerrard pushed on to support the ineffective Fernando Morientes - but to unravel a Boro side that is fancied to do well this term.
No wonder poor Rafael Benitez looked so crestfallen under the glare of the television cameras
He'd just seen his team push Middlesbrough deep into their own half, seen them negate every attempt by the home side to move forward, and yet failed to land a knockout blow.
"A pity," were his final words, though he might have added a heartfelt "damn!".
A relieved Steve McClaren confessed that Boro were delighted to hang on to a point, after another Gerrard charge forced last-man Ugo Ehiogu into a red-card tackle.
But they were clinging on long before that as Liverpool's fluid 4-5-1 - Momo Sissoko showing up well - turned the screw so tight that their opponents hardly functioned as an attacking force.
All Liverpool lacked was a striker awake to the demands of the Premier-ship. Milan Baros and Djibril Cisse both made second half appearances, but dispelled none of the doubts surrounding them.
Gerrard continued to pose Liverpool's sole threat up front, on a day when fans would have been gladdened by the new, steely approach, but frustrated like Gerrard himself about the lack of news on Michael Owen.
Early days, as the old cliche has it, and Benitez will have take a mbutt of positives from a gameplan that deserved to be rewarded with all three points.
Yet, despite a goal-sodden pre-season, Liverpool still look blunt.
Cue Sunderland and a cricket score. Steven Gerrard is flattened in the penalty area as he strives in vain for a goal against Middlesbrough on Saturday
