Heskey provides relief for Houllier

Yeovil Town 0 Liverpool 2: There are victories that just have to be endured. The jibes kept on darting out from the crowd here and Liverpool will also have winced at their own prosaic build-up, but the principal task was achieved even if it was also immediately forgotten. There will be no ridicule, no crisis.

In their present sensitive state, self-respect has to be carefully preserved at the Anfield club. Gerard Houllier can relish 48 hours or so in which the volume of the speculation about his replacement by Martin O'Neill drops to the level of background murmur.

He should therefore think kindly of the man who was initially left among the substitutes even after Liverpool had decided the injured Michael Owen was not ready to make his comeback. The Yeovil fans may have chanted "Heskey for Weymouth" near the end, but their target had really been identifiable as an international footballer.

After supposing the guile of Harry Kewell and Florent Sinama Pongolle's vivacity would undo third-division defenders, Houllier had to turn to more direct means by replacing the latter with Emile Heskey. Although the substitute is unaccustomed to inspiring exaltation, the subdued Liverpool fans were soon to appreciate him.

Almost immediately, he took a pass from Dietmar Hamann and drove against the goalkeeper Chris Weale from an angle. With Yeovil wearying and disrupted by injuries, others picked up the straightforward tone Heskey had set and Vladimir Smicer struck the inside of the post.

Heskey was to be even more accurate with his finishing in the 69th minute as he moved on to Danny Murphy's diagonal through ball and fired into the far corner of the net. At his worst, of course, Heskey taps meekly on doors that he ought to smash off their hinges and Houllier does need new forwards.

The signing of Djibril Cisse looks imminent. The Auxerre forward should arrive in the summer for a fee in the region of £10 million, but Houllier yesterday denied rumours he had come to Anfield this weekend to undergo a medical and sign a pre-contract agreement. "He wants to," said Houllier playfully. "At this stage nothing is true about Djibril Cisse. It doesn't mean that it won't be true in the future."

The Yeovil manager was mesmerised. "Can we have him on loan?" Gary Johnson pleaded. On yesterday's evidence he can be happy with the present squad, whose objective is promotion from the Second Division.

Lee Johnson was the emblem of a team with aspirations towards cultivated football. The midfielder weaved a patterned building with passes that inspired Yeovil on to the attack. In frankness, though, the firepower was insufficient to disturb a trenchant Liverpool defence very often.

Jerzy Dudek did make good saves, such as the one that turned behind a Gavin Williams drive in the 24th minute, but the Yeovil efforts were generally struck from distance. Johnson's men did their reputations some good but made just a respectable contribution to the lore of this Somerset club.

In the remarkable FA Cup defeat of a renowned Sunderland team in 1949, Yeovil had a right back, Ralph Davis, who worked in the town's traditional industry as a glove-cutter. Perhaps the visitors were sandbagged by the unknown that afternoon.

Yeovil are accomplished enough but they could not disconcert a Liverpool team sure of its superiority. Even in the first half, when Yeovil were fresh, the visitors ought to have scored after Stephane Henchoz's weighted pass and Smicer's cut-back in the 40th minute, but El Hadji Diouf fired wide.

The test of Liverpool came as much from their own insecurities as from the opposition. While their form has picked up a little, there is still a lot of Anfield angst at the indignity of needing to recalibrate their ambitions. The target now has to be fourth place in the Premiership, with the attendant access to the Champions League, but better had been expected under Houllier.

The manager presses on with all the stoicism he can muster. Milan Baros has still to complete his comeback from a broken leg and Owen was not risked in the husky environment of an FA Cup tie even though his ankle and hamstring have almost healed. Houllier noted he cannot risk exhausting his one experienced forward, Heskey, with overuse. It will be a comfort if Owen is available for Wednesday's Premiership game at Chelsea.

Liverpool did not clinch this tie until Harry Kewell went down as Hugo Rodrigues challenged in the 77th minute. Murphy, who had fed the ball through in that move, converted the penalty.

YEOVIL TOWN: Weale; Lockwood, Skiverton, Rodrigues, Pluck (Jackson 74), Terry (Lindegaard 38), Way, Johnson, Crittenden, Gall, Williams, Lindegaard (Gosling 77). Subs Not Used: Stansfield, Collis.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek; Biscan, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise, Diouf (Le Tallec 87), Murphy, Hamann, Smicer (Cheyrou 82), Kewell, Sinama Pongolle (Heskey 51). Subs Not Used: Traore, Luzi Bernardi. Booked: Smicer, Diouf, Le Tallec. Goals: Heskey 70, Murphy 77 pen.

Referee: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).