Gerrard leads Liverpool to victory over Preston

Steven Gerrard put his testing week behind him by leading Liverpool to a 2-0 FA Cup third round victory away to fellow north-west side Preston North End at Deepdale here Saturday.

Goals from Spanish duo Albert Riera and Fernando Torres secured a victory for the Premier League leaders against the second-tier team which was only sealed in stoppage-time.

Gerrard, 28, could have expected to sit out this third round tie in normal circumstances, but having been charged with assault over an alleged incident that took place in nearby Southport in the early hours of Monday morning, manager Rafael Benitez opted to select his captain from the start as “the best thing for him and for us is to focus on football.”

The England midfielder, due to appear at a magistrates' court on January 23, has been told he has the full support of his club and he was likely to have welcomed the chance to have played against Alan Irvine's Championship outfit.

“We always seem to have problems against lower league opposition, so we knew we would find it tough but thankfully we've come through it,” Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said.

“We only got the second goal in the last minute and we had a couple of scares in the last minute so great credit to Preston.”

Having been embarrassed in FA Cup shocks by Burnley and Barnsley in recent seasons, Benitez underlined his determination to avoid another upset by naming a formidable starting line-up for this game.

Only goalkeeper keeper Diego Cavalieri, in for Spain international Pepe Reina, could be considered as a fringe player.

Liverpool started slowly, though, and the home side, buoyed by a run of four successive home clean sheets, attempted to make an early breakthrough.

Scottish winger Ross Wallace forced Cavalieri into the first save of the game with a curling left-foot free-kick on five minutes, but the striker lacked the pace to worry the Brazilian shot-stopper.

Preston's defence struggled to cope with the penetration of Liverpool widemen Ryan Babel and Riera created a golden chance for Robbie Keane after racing to the byline.

His cross was perfect for Keane to slot into the net from six yards, but the Ireland striker sliced his shot so much that it almost went out for a throw-in.

Gerrard then tested Preston keeper Andy Lonergan with a snapshot from 20 yards before Riera gave Liverpool the lead with a classy 25th minute strike.

A Gerrard shot was half-cleared by Preston and the ball dropped to Riera on the edge of the six-yard box.

Instead of shooting with his right foot, Riera cut back on to his left and headed away from goal before beating Lonergan with a powerful left-foot shot from 12 yards.

Liverpool would have had the game in the bag by half-time had Keane taken two clear chances before the interval, but the former Tottenham Hotspur star's poor finishing gave Preston a lifeline.

Keane continued in a similar vein in the second-half, missing at the near post from Gerrard's cross, before Lonergan denied the Liverpool skipper with a brilliant save from his long-range shot in the 59th minute.

And five minutes later, Preston believed they had equalised when Sean St Ledger headed in Richard Chaplow's cross.

However, a foul by Jon Parkin on Carragher in the build-up led to the 'goal' being disallowed.

Benitez ended Torres's six-week, injury-enforced absence by putting him on in place of the misfiring Keane 18 minutes from time.

Torres's first effort on goal flew wide from 25 yards but his second, a tap-in from Gerrard's injury-time pass, made it 2-0.