my liverpool fc

IT took 75 games and probably even more wayward shots, but Momo Sissoko could finally celebrate his first Liverpool goal on Saturday.

Sissoko’s 20 yard strike was the highlight of an excellent all-round performance deputising for Steven Gerrard in the 2-0 win at Sunderland.

And the Mali international immediately set his sights on improving his goals tally in the months to come.

Goalscoring will never be his strongest attribute, but he admits he needs to chip in more often.

“I am very happy, not only because I’ve got my first goal for the club, but also because the team won. It was a very good result,” said the midfielder.

“It’s been a long time coming – I’m in my third year here. I was very surprised to score but I want to go on and score many goals for Liverpool.

“Sunderland are a very good team, but we played well. We are going to have to work hard to win games. There’s no need to talk about the title at this stage – we just need to keep winning.”

Manager Rafa Benitez was delighted to see Sissoko finally break his duck.

“It was important for Momo to get his first goal, and without Gerrard, Momo and Xabi played really well,” he said.

“The team showed character, played well and created a lot of chances. You could see the confidence we have, particularly in the second half.

“When the team plays as it did, it shows we can win any game. We’ve shown we are stronger than before, but it’s still too early to talk about what will happen this season. We need to just keep working hard and winning games, and then we can see if we can stay near the top.”

Once more, Liverpool had outstanding performers all over the park, but the pace and threat of Fernando Torres is already proving a lethal weapon.

“It’s really good for us to have a striker who is always running behind defenders,” said Benitez. “It’s also a big threat to the opponents, and means his strike partner, in this case Voronin, has more space.

“I thought it was a good partnership. They have pace and intelligence and caused big problems. It would have been easier to score the second goal earlier, but it’s also good to score at the end of the game.”