Derby county 1 Liverpool 2: Gerrard's late surge shatters spirit of Derby's brave fighters

Liverpool needed a last-minute winner from Steven Gerrard yesterday to lift them back into the top four temporarily at least but they came closer to humiliation at the hands of Derby County than they will care to dwell on this morning.

Until the captain surged forward in a desperate and ultimately successful attempt to wrest all three points from the stubborn, spirited hosts, Liverpool had played with a complete lack of urgency, and not much more creativity.

Fernando Torres opened the scoring in the 12th minute with his latest fine lone strike, but complacency then cost the visitors. For most of the afternoon, they pootered around like they couldn't care less that Manchester United and Arsenal are charging away over the horizon into a two-way race for the title.

Then, with 23 minutes remaining, Jay McEveley a former Everton trainee scored his first goal for Derby to seize the initiative and set up a grandstand finish. Liverpool were mostly in the grandstand, watching. Derby almost snatched victory with a late header from Giles Barnes. It flew over. But then Gerrard stormed from one end of the pitch to the other, dribbled in from the left, laid off to Yossi Benayoun, kept running, tracked Torres' rebounding shot and hit emphatically home.

The win leaves Liverpool fourth this morning, but still more than three clear wins from the Premiership summit and with just one game in hand on the pair currently vying for that slot. At least their manager, Rafa Benitez, did not allow himself to make any rash statements about being in a title race. A chase against Manchester City for fourth place looks more likely now. City are their next opponents, on Sunday, and City could be back above them before then, depending on what happens when they play Blackburn this evening.

"We need to think about City, it's one game at a time," Benitez said when asked if Liverpool are still "realistic" title contenders. "We have a game in hand [on the clubs around us]. You never know."

He conceded that his side need to hone their killer instincts. "The first half was good. At least we controlled the game, had a lot of possession. But you must finish the game off and we did not."

He admitted to Liverpool nerves when Derby equalised, saying: "We gave the ball away two or three times." But he also said Derby deserved credit for their fighting spirit.

They do. They lost their goalkeeper, Stephen Bywater, in the warm-up with a shoulder injury. The inexperienced Lewis Price took his place, playing for the first time in the Premiership. Then the Scotland midfielder Stephen Pearson had to go off in the first half with a dislocated shoulder after being clattered by his team-mate, Darren Moore. Paul Jewell's half-time team talk rallied his men to a feisty second-half showing. But Jewell had used up his substitutions well before one of them, Robert Earnshaw, was effectively removed from the game with a calf problem with 20 minutes left.

Still Jewell's side did not give up, and while Barnes might have done better with his header, defeat was a cruel way for this to end. When McEveley scored, Pride Park was rocking with ecstatic belief that a shock of shocks was on the cards. Or maybe the home faithful were just astounded to see a Derby goal on their own turf they had not done so since a 1-1 draw with Bolton in September. But Gerrard's goal was an acid finish.

"I sit here bitterly disappointed to have lost the game," Jewell said. "Events conspired against us today. Losing a 'keeper in the warm-up, again. One player takes another out. I make all my subs then Earnshaw pulls a calf.

"But I was pleased with the way we played in the second half. Effort. Fight. It's what the supporters want to see and as long as my players give their all, I can't complain."

McEveley was lively throughout, with his first involvement nicking the ball from Ryan Babel just as he was about to shoot from Gerrard's early pass. Kenny Miller shot over at the other end before Torres nut-megged Moore, turned inside Dean Leacocked and side-footed home.

McEveley then thwarted Torres before Babel shot over and Jamie Carragher missed a sitter. Derby's equaliser arrived via Eddie Lewis's free-kick after an alleged handball. Replays were equivocal, the ball hitting Xabi Alonso's chest more than his arm. But there was no doubting the goal, with Lewis firing into a crowded box and McEveley scrambling in. After Barnes' headed miss, Gerrard smacked one shot against the underside of the crossbar before returning at pace a few minutes later with more conviction.

Goals: Torres (12) 0-1; McEveley (67) 1-1; Gerrard (90) 1-2.

Derby County (4-4-2): Price; Mears, Moore (Feilhaber, h-t), Leacock, McEveley; Teale (Earnshaw, 56), Barnes, Pearson (Johnson, 27), Lewis; Miller, Howard. Substitutes not used: Hinchcliffe (gk), Johnson, Fagan.

Liverpool (4-4-2): Reina; Finnan, Hyypia (Benayoun, 54), Carragher, Aurelio; Babel (Kuyt, 72), Gerrard, Alonso, Riise; Torres, Voronin (Lucas, 90). Substitutes not used: Itandje (gk), Mascherano.

Referee: A Wiley.

Booked: Derby: McEveley.

Man of the match: McEveley.

Attendance: 33,029.