Bramble gives Bruce a bonus

Liverpool's title hopes suffered another serious blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Wigan at Anfield.

Late leveller hurts Reds as Wigan make their point at Anfield

Liverpool's title hopes suffered another serious blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Wigan at Anfield. A rocket from Titus Bramble with 10 minutes to go cancelled out Fernando Torres' opener and gave the visitors what could be a priceless point in their battle to beat the drop. The defender's thunderbolt was Wigan's first Premier League goal against The Reds, who now sit 12 points back of league leaders Arsenal in fifth spot. Torres, guilty of missing two glorious chances in the 0-0 draw away at Manchester City on Sunday, tucked home Steve Finnan's pass just four minutes into the second half to put the home side ahead. However, Steve Bruce maintained his record of never losing to Rafa Benitez in the Premier League thanks to Bramble's second goal in as many games. The visitors' game plan was pretty obvious, putting every one behind the ball in their own half when Liverpool had possession, which was almost continuously in the opening period. Wigan were quick to make use of set-pieces and when a corner was not cleared Michael Brown lashed as 20-yard shot just wide of a post. Chris Kirkland saved well after 21 minutes when Javier Mascherano exchanged passes with Torres before rolling in a low shot.

Frustrated

From then on until the break it was Liverpool who were frustrated as they searched for openings, with Torres lifting a pass into the box only for Steven Gerrard's snap-shot to be held by Kirkland. Torres then saw a flicked header just clear the crossbar after a 25-yard Xabi Alonso free-kick, before the Spain striker set up Gerrard for a right-foot shot which he pulled wide of the far post. The breakthrough for Liverpool came soon after the break when Finnan committed himself to attack to disrupt Wigan's back-line. After 49 minutes he found Gerrard on the right and kept running for the return, which arrived perfectly for him to cross first-time to allow Torres to tuck the ball inside Kirkland's left-hand post. Paul Scharner was booked after 58 minutes for a foul on Mascherano and when Gerrard fired in a fierce free-kick Kirkland spilled it and the Argentinian almost got on the end of the slip. Scharner's late intervention stopped Torres adding another after a clever flick, before Kirkland saved well to his left from a Gerrard drive.

Cushion

Liverpool needed the cushion of a second goal and Torres' cross-field ball presented Harry Kewell with a chance but he blasted inches over from 30 yards. Javier Mascherano was booked for a foul on Bent as Wigan broke quickly from defence and before the free-kick Wigan sent on Jason Koumas for Ryan Taylor. But when the set-piece was lifted into the box Gerrard failed to get the ball away properly and when it fell to defender Bramble he lashed a shot past Jose Reina. Gerrard tried to make amends, firing a low shot at Kirkland that was pushed out with the Liverpool captain just failing to reach the rebound. Liverpool sent on Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt for Mascherano and Pennant but they could not force a winner.

Liverpool	Team Statistics	Wigan Athletic
1	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	0
8	Shots on Target	1
6	Shots off Target	6
3	Blocked Shots	0
4	Corners	1
13	Fouls	16
3	Offsides	4
1	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
83.8	Passing Success	58.1
15	Tackles	25
73.3	Tackles Success	60
69.7	Possession	30.3
48.4	Territorial Advantage	51.6