BLACKBURN, England - Andy Carroll struck a dramatic injury-time winner as 10-man Liverpool beat Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at Ewood Park in a rollercoaster English Premier League clash yesterday.
Liverpool looked to be cruising to victory after goals from Maxi Rodriguez fired them into a 2-0 lead early on.
But a red card for goalkeeper Alexander Doni - himself filling in for the suspended Pepe Reina - changed the complexion of the game and thrust third-choice goalkeeper Brad Jones into the limelight.
Jones promptly announced his entrance by saving Ayegbeni Yakubu's spot-kick but Rovers hauled themselves back into the contest and eventually drew level.
Yakubu made amends for his penalty miss to head home for 2-1 and then levelled from the penalty spot in the second half to make it 2-2 and give Rovers hope of pulling clear of the relegation zone.
However Carroll was to have the final word with his header a minute into stoppage time to give Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, another Ewood Park occasion to put in his memory bank.
It will always be a special ground for Dalglish after winning the Championship while in charge of Blackburn in 1995.
Liverpool's stunning start came despite a much-changed side with Dalglish clearly eyeing this weekend's FA Cup semi-final against Everton.
Another regular missing was Pepe Reina, serving the second game of his three-match suspension.
Reina's red card at Newcastle had presented Doni with the chance to play in Saturday's semi-final - but his Wembley dream was shattered after just 25 minutes after he brought down Junior Hoilett.
It looked certain to earn Blackburn a valuable point and they were the more inventive team in the closing stages, but their hopes of moving out of the bottom three were destroyed by Carroll's dramatic late winner.