Liverpool limp through

UEFA Cup second round, second leg: Liverpool - 1 Steau Bucharest - 0 Liverpool are grateful for small mercies these days. Their players may crave the brighter lights of the Champions League but, given their mediocre domestic form, they will take progress in Europe any way they can. They must have been mightily relieved to go through into the UEFA Cup's third round here last night.

Steaua, pesky and stubborn opponents, were dismissed with more huff and puff than panache last night, with Harry Kewell's goal just after the interval providing rare relief amidst excruciating tension.

Victory was desperately unconvincing, eked out with Laurentiu Dinita blazing wide late on, but it will prolong Merseyside's interest in this competition at least until February.

By then, the realistic ambitions of Liverpool's season will be clearer; at the moment, reinforced by this evidence, the doubts remain.

The Anfield elements had done their best to conjure a repeat of the mud bath in Romania three weeks earlier with the arena doused in a freezing downpour before kick-off, but this was still a surface on which Steaua could thrill.

The visitors were slick and adventurous, with the diminutive Claudiu Nicu Raducanu - slayer of Southampton in the previous round - a constant nuisance, and by half-time they could feel aggrieved not to have a lead they deserved.

Raducanu, fed by Falemi Nana's delicious pass, shocked any home partisans expecting a walkover within three minutes of the start, wriggling on to the through ball while jaws dropped in the Liverpool defence.

The striker's lob looped on to the roof of the net, but notice had been served of their marauding intent.

Marian Aliuta's shot, scuttling wide of the far post, reinforced the sense that there was a sting to this tie. Liverpool laboured and as they did the stewards snatched down the first clear sign of discontent within Anfield at the perceived under-achievement of the current regime - a draped banner reading "Not good enough LFC: time to go Houllier" in the Anfield Road end.

There was little to please Gerard Houllier on the pitch either. His team's play was over-intricate in areas of the pitch best avoided altogether with their attacking threat too sporadic for comfort, even if Dietmar Hamann offered some reassurance on his first start of the campaign.

The German's recovery from a shin complaint freed Steven Gerrard to stride forward with menace and it was the England midfielder who skipped unchecked on to Kewell's free-kick only to head straight at Vasili Khamutovski.

Michael Owen repeated the trick from Gerrard's dead ball but, by the break, the ground was full of grumbling discontent.

Grumbles became gasps of exasperation as Igor Biscan, attempting to shield the ball in the area, appeared to trip Raducanu from the restart though the striker crumpled too theatrically and Liverpool were able to breath again.

Then, breaking downfield, the irrepressible Gerrard burst to the by-line, with his cross deflected kindly for Kewell, leaping above Pompiliu Stoica, to head down and into the far corner.

The relief was obvious, the strut restored to the home side's stride with Gerrard skidding a 30-yard free-kick to the corner for Khamutovski to claim.

When Salif Diao and the Liverpool captain combined down the right, Florent Sinama-Pongolle - for once onside - failed marginally to convert in the centre.

The impetus was now all Scouse, Owen prodding Kewell's near-post cross wide and the substitute Emile Heskey almost converting with his first touch.

Houllier was a happy man afterwards: "It was important to keep the run in Europe because it is always exciting," he said. "We have beaten a good team. They could pass a ball well. I don't think that they had a lot of chances but on the whole it is a deserved victory."

LIVERPOOL: Kirkland, Diao, Biscan, Hyypia, Traore, Diouf (Smicer 69), Hamann, Gerrard, Kewell, Owen (Murphy 89), Sinama Pongolle (Heskey 69). Subs Not Used: Dudek, Riise, Le Tallec, Otsemobor. Goals: Kewell 49.

STEAUA BUCURESTI: Hamutovski, Radoi, Rachita, Mutica, Stoica, Dumitru, Falemi (Pitu 80), Aliuta (Paraschiv 59), Bostina, Raducanu, Oprita (Dinita 80).Subs Not Used: Tudor, Curt, Neaga, Ogararu. Booked: Rachita, Mutica.

Referee: Florian Meyer (Germany).