Birmingham unashamedly strung 10 men across their own penalty area at times and fought like lions for a point.

The Midlanders were clearly not going to be letting themselves suffer a six-goal thrashing like Derby did recently, and set out to suffocate the life from Liverpool's game.

Steve Bruce's side more than achieved their aim - and fully deserved the point. Liam Ridgewell and Johan Djourou were outstanding at the back and Benitez has still to register a league win over Bruce's men after five attempts.

The resting of Torres was, however, one of just two changes Benitez restricted himself to . . . he has been averaging five a match so far this term . . . from the team which drew in Porto in midweek.

Ultimately, it was the one that proved costliest. Birmingham arrived with a suffocating gameplan, and set about frustrating Liverpool from the start. Gaps were limited. Ryan Babel combined to play Riise in on the left, and his fierce low cross was too far ahead of Voronin. Birmingham's system, though, was disrupted on 16 minutes by what looked a bad injury to Borja Oubina on his full debut for the Midlanders - the loanee from Celta Vigo was carried off and replaced by Gary McSheffrey.

Birmingham were still regimented and organised and were forcing Liverpool to make all the decisions.

Liverpool continued to toil after the break, and Jamie Carragher saw an 18-yard effort deflected just over.

They finally sent on Fernando Torres for Babel on the hour as well as Peter Crouch.

With Birmingham full of confidence now, however, they only brought a clumsy mix-up between Steven Gerrard and Crouch, and a tame header from the six-foot-seven-inch striker.