With just twelve minutes on the clock, David Ngog volleyed coolly enough to give Liverpool a deserved lead. Glen Johnson was the instigator as he switched the ball from one foot through the other to get past between two defenders, and passed to the former. It was not yet time for the French lad to open the score as his short got blocked by the Birmingham keeper, Joe Hart. The rebound went to the stand-in captain Dirk Kuyt but there was another block by Hart’s legs. Albert Riera crossed the rebound and this time Ngog, Hart had no chance. In normal times, in normal circumstances, such a goal at such time, against such opposition would take the edge off the game, as it’s usually the first goal that decides everything. But these are neither normal times, nor normal circumstances. These are strange times.

There was nothing admittedly too strange though on the twenty-sixth minute when Birmingham equalized through a set-piece. The only one strange thing was Benitez finding his name on the score-sheet as he registered his first goal in the Premiership. Liverpool replied well enough, passed the ball around tidily enough, even though the eleven men in red seemed to be missing a leader on the pitch. It was sensible and fair enough to give the armband to Dirk Kuyt, but while he wears his heart on his sleeve, he never wears an armband with authority, and with his form currently slightly off the rails, he was never going to be authoritative on his team mates. Riera, back in the side for the first time in over a month due to a hamstring injury, had to call it a day slightly after the clock ticked over the forty-five minutes mark. He was frustrated and slapped the turf with his hands as he must have heard a tear. Steven Gerrard quickly and emergently came in for him, and soon enough it was Pepe Reina’s turn to hear a very strange tear as Cameron Jerome’s straight shot teared through the air.

The second forty-five minutes saw Liverpool regroup early and again put the pressure on Birmingham. The captain was understandably subdued but this time there was more urgency than the previous forty-five. Johnson had one of his better games, got past players and delivered decent crosses. Sometimes it was the keeper, other times lack of composure in front of goal, but Liverpool had to wait till the seventieth minute to level the score. Ngog slightly outside their penalty area beat his man gracefully enough but all the grace of the game ended there as the carthorse that is Lee Carlsley slid his body to stop Ngog’s ball but he missed up both. Ngog tumbled himself on the ground and the man in black pointed to the penalty spot. Gerrard accepted the gift and sent the keeper the wrong way.

The last twenty minutes saw Liverpool continuing the pressure but it was only Yossi Benayoun’s hamstring that gave up. The tempo overall was kept high, the performance would have brought three points on most other nights but while Ngog’s jump rather than dive might have rubbed his reputation, Liverpool can’t get the rub of the green.