Match Report - Liverpool 3 Birmingham 1 Liverpool shrugged off the absence of injured superstar Michael Owen as they came from a goal down to beat Birmingham 3-1 and leapfrog over their opponents to sixth in the table. The midlanders have produced powerful, physical performances all season but they were over-powered and outplayed eventually by Gerard Houllier's much-maligned side. Behind to a Mikael Forssell goal on the half- hour mark, Liverpool could have sunk into their now familiar depths of uncertainty and indecision. But with Steven Gerrard driving them forward, they hit Birmingham with a trio of goals. Birmingham had Frenchman Christophe Dugarry back after being sidelined with a twisted knee, while keeper Maik Taylor was out with flu, Ian Bennett taking over. Liverpool were fluid and quick from the off, with Kewell heavily involved, switching wings to great effect. But there was soon a sign of things to come when Sinama-Pongolle was laid out by Damien Johnson, but despite complaints from the pitch and the dug-out, referee Neale Barry chose to ignore it. Sinama-Pongolle was a constant menace with his quick reactions and control but Birmingham, in possession, were an increasing danger through Dugarry and David Dunn, while Stan Lazaridis was able to outpace Salif Diao on the left. Birmingham then created two chances in a minute, first when Dugarry was clear after a Sami Hyypia mistake and then when Lazaridis got in a flicked header. On both occasions Chris Kirkland made outstanding saves. Birmingham's organisation and midfield running - through Stephen Clemence and Robbie Savage - restricted Liverpool's options and hurried them into errors, and the Merseysiders for a while looked unsure and slow. Then Johnson finally got himself booked on 25 minutes after bringing down Kewell. Heskey's strength in possession almost brought the breakthrough when he held off Kenny Cunningham to feed El Hadji Diouf, whose low cross was punched away from Sinama-Pongolle's lunge at full stretch by Bennett. And in the 32nd minute it was no surprise when Diao was booked for grounding Lazaridis. It proved to be a double punishment when Birmingham took the lead from the free-kick when Savage's ball in from the left found Forssell arriving unmarked on the far post to score. But Liverpool were level within two minutes. Sinama-Pongolle's twisting and turning had been a constant problem for Birmingham's central defenders, and when in the 34th minute Gerrard threaded a pass into the Frenchman's feet it produced a penalty. Sinama-Pongolle's spun and Matthew Upson lunged in and the referee pointed to the spot. Gerrard stepped up to drill home the kick. Birmingham did not know how to handle Sinama-Pongolle and in the 50th minute he robbed Upson on the line and sped away to lay the ball across initially for Heskey, who could not get a connection. The ball broke for Gerrard, whose shot was blocked by Cunningham. Four minutes later Liverpool injected some extra midfield creativity with Vladimir Smicer replacing Diouf, and Heskey moving to the right. Every challenge on Sinama-Pongolle created an incident. Gerrard went on a 50-yard surging run and was sent tumbling on the edge of the box before Kewell cut down the left to be clipped in full flight - neither instance being penalised. Dietmar Hamann was then booked for catching Savage, further enraging the Kop, but the referee was right with this one. Liverpool replaced Djimi Traore with John Arne Riise on 66 minutes, and two minutes later the Norwegian supplied an accurate ball in from the left for Kewell to dive forward and send a spectacular header wide of Bennett's right hand. Three times in as many minutes Liverpool could have settled things. First Jamie Clapham somehow managed a goal-line clearance from an Hamann header following Gerrard's corner. Then Bennett tipped over another Gerrard set- piece from 25 yards before Hyypia saw a diving header bounce inches wide from a Smicer chip into the box. Upson limped off on 75 minutes to be replaced by Olivier Tebily. Birmingham had survived the onslaught and had begun to mount attacks of their own. But two minutes later Liverpool got the third. It came from the much-maligned Heskey, and what a cracker it was. Diao hoisted a ball in from the right and Heskey jumped to take it on his chest before spinning to hook the dropping ball into the top corner. There was still time for Smicer to hit the bar from 25 yards, just to underline that Liverpool look to have come through their nightmare months. source: World Soccer News/Walk On/SportingLife