Portsmouth 1 - 2 Liverpool

P'smouth 1-2 Liverpool: Made in Spain

Updated: April 20, 2005, 5:18 PM ET

Liverpool found a cure for Premiership travel sickness as goals from Fernando Morientes and Luis Garcia condemned new Portsmouth boss Alain Perrin to a 2-1 defeat.

The two Spaniards' strikes were Liverpool's first away from home in the league since their last Premiership win on the road on February 1.

• Benitez quiet on Gerrard

But their attempt to climb back into the fourth Champions League position was thwarted by news of a Duncan Ferguson winner for Mersey rivals Everton against nine-man Manchester United.

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez, who kept Steven Gerrard on the bench for 68 minutes, will be delighted, however, with his side's sharp display against a Pompey side always difficult to beat at Fratton Park.

The home side certainly showed their fighting qualities as record signing Diomansy Kamara smuggled in a 33rd-minute equaliser but it took a bold display by keeper Jamie Ashdown to prevent Liverpool winning convincingly.

There were near misses and spurned opportunities aplenty in a thrilling first half and there was more of the same after the break.

The £6million Morientes netted at the second attempt from John Arne Riise's cross in only the fourth minute but Lomana LuaLua had already had an effort disallowed and Milan Baros wasted a good chance.

And Morientes should have scored a second goal for Liverpool in the 26th minute when after a raid by Sami Hyypia, Steve Finnan's cross found the tall striker unchallenged 10 yards out at the far post, but he headed off target.

Pompey were guilty of poor marksmanship, too. Kamara hesitated inside the Liverpool area when a chance looked like opening up and when a lovely ball by Gary O'Neil sent LuaLua in to lob neatly over Jerzy Dudek, the keeper scrambled back to palm away under the bar.

Pompey raised the volume with an equaliser two minutes later by Kamara following an O'Neil corner.

Dejan Stefanovic flicked on, Arjan de Zeeuw's diving header came back off a post and Kamara forced home the rebound for his sixth of the season.

But Kamara spurned another opening to put Pompey ahead eight minutes later when a piece of magic by LuaLua left him one-on-one with Dudek only for the keeper to spread himself bravely and block the shot.

And although they were lucky not to pay for that when Riise shot wide from a Xabi Alonso cross on 42 minutes, there was no stopping Luis Garcia heading the visitors back into the lead from a Riise cross in first-half injury time.

Pompey were indebted to keeper Ashdown for preventing Liverpool wrapping up victory early in the second half when he stuck out a foot to stop Riise's drive, held Baros' shot on the turn and tipped over a Riise rocket before defying the same pair with a brave double save.

Yet Steve Stone should have put the home side back on level terms on the hour when he overran the ball inside the six-yard box following Matthew Taylor's cross and ended up losing it altogether.

It still seemed only a matter of time until the Pompey goal was pierced again but when they brought on ex-Liverpool man Patrik Berger - who scored the winner against them last year - they had more firepower and Dudek had to make a flying save to keep out the midfielder's 25-yarder.

Ashdown's outstanding stop to defy Xabi Alonso right at the end was typical of the contest.

Benitez happy with away win

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez would not reveal whether Steven Gerrard would return to his starting line-up at Crystal Palace on Saturday after tonight's win at Portsmouth.

Benitez kept Gerrard on the bench for the first 68 minutes at Fratton Park before bringing him on to safeguard a 2-1 success.

Benitez said: 'We have a lot of games now in a short time and it is important to have Steve fit now for the next ones. Maybe he will start against Crystal Palace but I have to check with other players first to see if there are other injury problems after this game.

'He was injured and we need to protect him,' said Benitez. 'But he wants to play and wants to score goals and do his best. He is waiting for his opportunity.'

The Spanish manager added: 'It was good to win and especially good to win away. We played some good football and created many chances. John Arne Riise could have had a hat-trick, but you need to take your opportunities or you can have a surprise right at the end.'

He added: 'If you have important games in a short period you have to use all your players. It is impossible to keep the same players. We can't do anything about what Everton do but if they win it of course makes it a little bit more difficult.

'We can reach the Champions League final this year but if you lose you are not in the competition again. Finish fourth and you are.

'We need balance in the team and I think we are getting it. Djibril Cisse is coming back slowly after a bad injury and Luis Garcia had a slight muscle injury when he went off for the second half tonight.'

Pompey's new manager Alain Perrin suffered his first defeat as Fratton Park boss but remained positive.

The Frenchman said: 'The game was as tough as I expected because Liverpool are a strong team.

'We made a few small mistakes in the first half but there was still plenty of fight and skill among the players and it will not damage them too much.

'Our goalkeeper made some very good saves but Liverpool needed to take three points just as much as we wanted to and they came to win. They were stronger than us.

'But we had problems before the kick-off with Arjan de Zeeuw having stomach trouble and Linvoy Primus a muscle strain. We have to be careful with another big game against Southampton on Sunday when we have to fight for our fans.

'I saw Southampton fight for a point at Bolton on TV last night and it will not be easy for us but it is a game I am looking forward to. There was enough in our performance against Liverpool to keep up our morale.'