my liverpool fc

Only 24 minutes remained as Gerrard drove at the Cardiff defence after Fowler's attacking partner, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, lost possession. Feeding the ball to Yossi Benayoun, who had just appeared as a substitute, the England midfielder continued his run and took the return to side-foot his third goal in successive games from 12 yards.

	Unhappy return: Robbie Fowler's return to Anfield was fruitless

David Jones, the former Everton defender now in charge of Cardiff, was exaggerating when he said later that Gerrard was "the only player in the world" who could have scored such a goal. It scarcely ranked alongside his strikes in the Champions League final of 2005, or the FA Cup final a year later, but you knew where Jones was coming from.

The Cardiff manager had hoped Gerrard would be rested, and his Liverpool counterpart, Rafael Benitez, admitted he might have obliged had Mohamed Sissoko not been taken ill and joined a lengthy list of absentees. "In an ideal world I would have kept Stevie safe," the Spaniard said. "But he likes to play every game, and we wanted to win."

Mark Lawrenson had probably spoken for most Liverpool fans beforehand when he said that the ideal result would be a 4-3 home win – but with Fowler scoring a hat-trick. In the event, the prodigal son never went closer than in the fourth minute, a deftly curled free kick from 20 yards in front of the Kop forcing the first of three fine saves from Charles Itandje.

The task of policing Fowler fell to Jack Hobbs, 19, on his home debut. The tall former Lincoln defender largely subdued Anfield's favourite son, but neither he nor Jamie Carragher could prevent Paul Parry winning a header from Joe Ledley's cross before half-time. Itandje again spared Liverpool's blushes.

Three minutes into the second half, El Zhar, a 21-year-old Moroccan making only his fourth appearance in two seasons, took a pass from Gerrard in a central position 25 yards out. The former St Etienne midfielder buried a right-footed shot beyond Michael Oakes for his first Liverpool goal.

Purse, rising above Carragher to head in Parry's 65th-minute free kick, looked to have put Liverpool on the back foot.

Jones, under fire from Cardiff's followers after his team slipped to 17th in the Championship, wondered how different the outcome might have been had they kept Liverpool quiet for five minutes after equalising. Gerrard ensured he would never know.