Striker Fernando Torres ended his six-match goal drought with the winner against Blackburn Rovers to provide a much-needed boost at Anfield.
Goalkeeper Paul Robinson had kept the Reds at bay until Sotirios Kyrgiakos' 48th-minute header and although a Jamie Carragher own goal quickly levelled things up Torres struck only his second of the season soon after.
It ended a run of seven matches without a victory in all competitions and although it was still not enough to lift Liverpool out of the bottom three the result came as a welcome relief.
Torres, starved of service, has looked out of form with his only goal coming in the 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion at the end of August.
However, if the Spain international could have chosen any team to play against it would have been Rovers, against whom he has now scored five times in their last four meetings.
GUEST APPEARANCE
And it can be no coincidence Liverpool's only two Barclays Premier League victories have been as a result of Torres applying the decisive finish.
It was the very least representatives of New England Sports Ventures, in the crowd after their £300m buy-out just over a week ago, will have wanted to see.
It may have been for their benefit that there was a guest appearance by Gerry Marsden to sing a live rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone.
The change in the pre-match routine appeared to have the desired effect on Liverpool but, although it was as positive a first half as they had put in under manager Roy Hodgson, it still failed to produce a goal.