IN an interview on local radio, Montse Benitez revealed an unexpected side of her husband: a taste for British television sitcoms. Only Fools and Horses and Father Ted are his favourites. Both shows centre on lovable nearly men and for four years on Merseyside Rafa Benitez has flirted dangerously with just that status.

Liverpool fans have always felt affection for him but their underlying desperation for the prize he has not delivered, the Premier League title, has lent the relationship poignancy. Del Boy and Rodney never did become millionaires and nor could Father Ted quite manage to get himself off Craggy Island.

Life, however, does not necessarily imitate art: could Rafa be about to rewrite his script? Certainly, after this game’s unlikely denouement, he was tempted to think so. Just as at Sunderland last Saturday, Liverpool disappointed and were disjointed and yet emerged with a victory thanks to an unswerving belief that if they kept going hard enough and for long enough their play would finally come good. Manchester United have been doing it for years and Chelsea picked up the habit from Jose Mourinho, while Arsenal’s youth gives them an optimism with similar effects.

Now Liverpool could become genuine contenders, too. “The team showed an intensity and mentality we want to see,” Benitez said. “Last year we were losing or drawing these types of games and we have to win them. Our fans were quiet before we scored and they were thinking about last season, so maybe this will send a positive message.”

As he spoke in the postmatch press conference, Benitez’s cheeks were still flushed the colour of a Spain strip thanks to the visceral effects of a comeback which inevitably took place in front of the Kop end and starred Steven Gerrard.

Leading through a gorgeous Mido goal, Middlesbrough were controlling the game before an equaliser came out of nowhere and conviction surged through Liverpool’s players.

Gerrard, nursing a niggle, had been playing as if still wearing his England shirt but remembered suddenly he was in a Liverpool jersey and that, when wrapped around his torso, it has the same effect as a superhero costume. Some 92 minutes were gone and the game was in the final 60 seconds of stoppage time when Xabi Alonso hit a long cross into the box, Robert Huth’s header came off Robbie Keane, and the ball dropped on the 18 yard line with Gerrard closing in. What came next was predictable but perhaps all the more glorious for the Kop because of that.

Just as against Olympiakos in 2004/5 and West Ham in 2005/6, their captain swung his right leg and thrashed a volley past the goalkeeper. 2-1, top of the league.

Of course, the other way of looking at things is that Liverpool have now got away with poor performances twice and are threatening to exhaust a season’s supply of fortune before August is out.

That view is equally valid. Benitez’s side will not be champions playing like this. Boro should finish in the top half of the table should the structured, skilful and feisty football of their opening two outings be maintained. No wonder Gareth Southgate held his head in his hands when Gerrard’s goal went in. Even before Mido scored they had silenced Anfield and the startling technique shown by Tuncay when he turned Jamie Carragher inside Liverpool’s area deserved a goal but he shot straight at Jose Reina.

“The lads are incredibly down,” said Southgate, “but we showed away from home, against a top team, we can be disciplined and cause problems with our counter-attacks. It was on one of these that Gary O’Neil fed Mido, who flashed a low shot past Reina from 25 yards. Alonso had given the ball away and his erratic performance - which featured passing of both the highest and lowest order - epitomised the home midfield.

The Fernando Torres-Robbie Keane partnership is still developing, though there was one breathtaking combination when Keane found space to receive a pass, beat two men and slipped the ball to Torres, who would have scored but for his shot striking Emanuel P o g a t e t z ’ s t r a i l i n g l e g . Liverpool had opened well, with Dirk Kuyt forcing a parry from Ross Turnbull with a 20-yard drive. Keane sliced his shot when in a good position and Stewart Downing did similar after cutting inside.

T o r r e s ’ s m o s t s k i l f u l moment was a long-range shot which looped just over the bar, but his biggest contribution was utilising his overlooked physical power. Robert Huth and Pogatetz defended staunchly but could never be at ease with Torres contesting every high ball, and a knockdown from the Spaniard had Gerrard shooting and Liverpool claiming a penalty as Huth, turning his back while blocking, stopped the ball with his arm.

Mike Riley waved play on and a similar decision played a pivotal part in Liverpool equalsing. This time it was Gary O’Neil’s arm which made contact when he charged down an Alonso cross. Mido, closest to the ball, stopped, expecting a free kick but Jamie Carragher played on and teed the ball up for himself, before striking a powerful shot which hit Poga-tetez on the hip and deflected past Turnbull.

There was confusion over whether it was an own goal but not for Carragher. He went off on a tour of celebration, and who could blame someone who had scored just once in the league in the previous nine and a half years.

25
That is the number of matches in which Middlesbrough have failed to win at Anfield, a run that goes back to 1976. Liverpool have won their past nine home league games, something they have not done since 1990

Star man:Jamie Carragher (Liverpool)

Liverpool:Reina 6, Arbeloa 6 (El Zhar 83min), Carragher 7, Skrtel 6, Dossena 5 (Aurelio 75min), Kuyt 6, Alonso 6, Gerrard 7, Benayoun 5 (Babel 65min), Keane 6, Torres 7

Middlesbrough:Turnbull 6, Taylor 7 (Hoyte 75min), Huth 6, Pogatetz 7, Wheater 7, Aliadiere 6, Downing 6, O’Neil 7, Shawky 6, Tuncay 7 (Digard 87min), Alves 6 (Mido 60min, 7)

Yellow cards:Liverpool: Arbeloa, Keane. Middlesbrough: Mido

Referee:M Riley Attendance:43,168