The players were asked to stand up and be counted. And then run through Bill Shankly’s proverbial brick wall. The manager had bricks thrown to him from all direction. Before kick-off, Pepe Reina had beach balls thrown at him. At the end, the same Reina ran the length of the pitch, unencumbered as the brick wall was properly demolished and all that was on the pitch was the debris. And by the corner flag after his sprint, he picked and hugged the scorer who comes by the name of David Ngog. No-one from the press box dared to throw another glance towards Benitez, never mind another brick. They had their time. This was now Rafa’s. And the eleven red men on the pitch. And the Kop’s time. And dare I say it mine. It is such a feeling. Pure unadulterated joy. It might go missing for a while, but when it comes back, let it engulf you.

With Steven Gerrard out injured, Jamie Carragher got the armband and led the other ten out. Carra himself has had his fair share of ridicule and write-off’s in the past. Five hundred games and then some more later he is still here. He has had a poor start. By his standards at least. Yesterday, he didn’t just lead his team-mates from the dug-out. This adversity must have hurt him more than anyone else, and like it does to Liverpool, it got the best out of him. Him and the team had a poor start. Yesterday he returned to his best and the team had the best performance of the season to date. He blocked, he tackled, he made sure Reina had as little work to do as possible. He was prepared to take a red card for his side. He’s much more cynical than you’d think. And God bless him for that.

Another ten men got infected with his enthusiasm and aptitude. They all carried each other and on the 65th minute Fernando Torres was released on his own through a sublime pass by Yossi Benayoun. He still had a lot of work to do, but he sped past Rio Ferdinand, kept his momentum and composure in check and rifled home to give Liverpool a deserved lead. He had to get injected earlier on, but now it was his turn to inject belief in his team-mates that these are here for the taking and as his manager stated before they are much better than some people think. The scorer didn’t last the whole match. A tumultuous ovation saw him off to be replaced by the to be sealer of the match.

Some eyebrows must have been raised when David Ngog got the nod ahead of Ryan Babel. Getting on for Torres after such a goal and imperious display could have been daunting and admittedly his sometimes lack of technical ability was apparent. But he makes up for it with his enthusiasm and attitude. The same enthusiasm and attitude that got Javier Mascherano the red card. He’s another who had a poor start, but yesterday he could not be faulted. He went in with two legs on Edwin Van Der Sar at the 95th minute. He went in for the ball like any Kopite would have gone. It is probably the least red card that ever bothered me. He’s not only forgiven but appreciated for the act itself.

And back to David Ngog, with their keeper rushing and trying to obstruct the net, he proved to be a cool customer and there’s only one word to describe the feeling seeing this unknown 20 year old sealing it against them. Sweet.