Anyone else would have read the script and written this off as a bad day at the office – anyone, that is, except Steven Gerrard. The Liverpool captain had just seen his 20-yard shot strike the underside of the crossbar and his team appeared destined to miss the opportunity to secure victory when the midfield player charged down the left wing, laid the ball off wide and moved into the penalty area to snatch the winning goal that takes Rafael BenÍtez’s team into fourth place in the Premier League.

It was archetypal Gerrard, saving the day when all seemed lost, but so hard on Derby County who, against all the odds, seemed to have salvaged their first point at home since September 29. Losing Matt Oakley, their captain, before Christmas, Stephen Bywater, their goalkeeper, in the warm-up, Stephen Pearson, their most dynamic player, when Darren Moore, his teammate, crashed into him, and finishing the game with ten men after Robert Earnshaw, the final substitute, pulled a calf muscle, Derby appeared to have achieved an heroic draw through the equaliser of Jay McEveley, the Liverpool-born defender.

But Gerrard redirected the narrative. A humdinger of a second half was coming to the boil when Tyrone Mears went marauding up the field only to be sent flying by Fabio Aurélio. When Alan Wiley, the referee, waved play on, Gerrard took full advantage. Yossi Benayoun crossed and, when Fernando Torres’s initial shot was parried by Lewis Price, the Wales goalkeeper making his Premier League debut, McEveley could only clear to Gerrard, who flicked the ball into the net with the side of his heel. It was his eleventh goal in 14 matches for the club.

“We know that Stevie Gerrard is this type of player, box to box, and because they were only playing with ten men, I told him to play higher up the pitch,” BenÍtez said. “He’s a key player for us, top class. It’s the same with [Fernando] Torres – they must be there when you need them.”

Torres scored his seventh goal in as many games as Liverpool looked set to cruise to victory. Having beaten these opponents 6-0 at Anfield in September, another veritable thrashing was on the cards in the first half as Derby appeared sorry for themselves and willing to stand off.

If losing one player in the warm-up can be considered a misfortune, losing two starts to look like carelessness. Claude Davis damaged his knee before the 2-2 draw away to Newcastle United on Sunday, when Bywater damaged his shoulder, but played on. His name appeared on Derby’s team sheet yesterday, after a pain-killing injection, only for him to discover that he was not fit enough to play an hour before kick-off.

Such an inauspicious start was compounded when, trailing 1-0 to Torres’s fifteenth goal of the season, Moore went crashing into Pearson, the engine of Derby’s midfield, for a loose ball in midfield. Pearson dislocated his shoulder. “Everything conspired against us today,” Paul Jewell, the Derby manager, said. “The first half was unacceptable – when you’re up against one of the best teams in Europe, if you sit off them and pay them too much respect, they’ll kill you – but the way we responded in the second half, I’ve told the players I’m right behind them.”

Torres’s goal was of the highest order. Receiving Ryan Babel’s pass 30 yards out, he nutmegged Moore with ease before swerving inside Dean Leacock to curl in from ten yards.

With Michael Johnson, back from a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, on for Pearson, and Leacock reverting to midfield, Derby found themselves with the central defensive pairing with which they managed to avoid relegation to League One in 2005-06 before Moore was withdrawn at half-time.

With Xabi Alonso back to direct matters, Liverpool appeared subdued in their desire for victory, as if convinced that a single-goal lead was sufficient. Derby rallied and when McEveley slotted in his first goal for the club, after Eddie Lewis’s free kick rebounded off Torres, the visiting team were obliged to move up a gear. But Price, signed from Ipswich Town in the summer, saved brilliantly from drives by Aurélio and Alonso.

When Lewis crossed for Giles Barnes to stoop and head just over the crossbar four minutes from time, Gerrard seemed to take the scare as a personal green light to go and win the game. “Not only is he a top player, he’s a top athlete,” Jewell said. “He can run all day and he’s a fantastic example to all young players.” And to his teammates.

How they lined up

Derby County (4-4-2): L Price – T Mears, D Moore (sub: B Feilhaber, 46min), D Leacock, J McEveley – G Teale (sub: R Earnshaw, 56), G Barnes, S Pearson (sub: M Johnson, 27), E Lewis – K Miller, S Howard. Substitutes not used: B Hinchliffe, C Fagan. Booked: McEveley.

Liverpool (4-4-2): JM Reina – S Finnan, J Carragher, S Hyypia (sub: Y Benayoun, 54), F Aurélio – R Babel (sub: D Kuyt, 72), S Gerrard, X Alonso, JA Riise – F Torres, A Voronin (sub: Lucas, 90). Substitutes not used: C Itandje, J Mascherano. Booked: Alonso.

Referee: A Wiley

What they need

Liverpool Rafael BenÍtez’s need for greater defensive back-up was increased by an ankle injury to Sami Hyypia yesterday with Daniel Agger still out with a foot injury. Tomas Ujfalusi, the Fiorentina and Czech Republic defender, is said to be a £2 million target.

Derby Paul Jewell, the manager, needs to strengthen in all areas, but especially in the centre of defence. The club have been linked with Calum Davenport, of West Ham United.