Liverpool 2 Sunderland 2 (English Premier League 25 September 2010 ).....

Steven Gerrard headed home a superb second-half equaliser as Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw against Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.

The skipper showed great reactions to nod in his fourth of the season on 64 minutes after Darren Bent's brace had cancelled out Dirk Kuyt's controversial opener.

It means the Reds end a difficult week with a hard-fought point and puts further emphasis on the need for a victory when they entertain Blackpool next Sunday.

In his pre-match press conference Roy Hodgson revealed that he had made the decision to make wholesale changes from the team that were surprisingly beaten by League Two side Northampton in midweek, with the likes of Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Joe Cole all returning.

There was also a starting berth for Kuyt, who shrugged off a shoulder injury to make his first appearance since the 1-0 success over West Brom on August 29.

It helped raised the level of optimism inside Anfield as the hosts looked to get back on track following what the boss has openly admitted as being a difficult start to his first campaign in charge.

So often this term the Reds have failed to get out of first gear in the opening 45 minutes, but they looked fired up to change that in the early exchanges by applying a high tempo to their play.

Cole was looking particularly lively and it was his run that nearly led to an opening goal inside two minutes. The diminutive midfielder was fouled 40 yards from goal, giving Gerrard the opportunity to float a free-kick into the path of Torres who crashed a shot high into the net - only to have his celebrations cut short by an offside flag.

If that moment provided an early test for the officials, then they had an even bigger decision to make just three minutes later.

Sunderland defender Michael Turner appeared keen for goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to take a free-kick midway inside his own half. However, referee Stuart Atwell deemed that the ball was back in live play following the former Hull defender's half-hearted pass towards the stopper, allowing Torres to race towards goal and unselfishly square to Kuyt who made no mistake from 18 yards.

Visiting manager Steve Bruce was visibly incensed by the decision to allow the goal and while the general consensus was that the away side had been unlucky, Kopites could be forgiven for thinking it was a simple case of Karma righting itself following last season's infamous beachball incident.

Indeed, it was the ideal lift for the Reds and on eight minutes Torres came close to doubling the advantage with a similar strike to his goal of the season contender against the Mackems back in March, but this time his sublime curler dropped onto the roof of the net.

The visitors still seemed shaken by the early goal, but slowly began to create opportunities of their own and Pepe Reina had to be alert to deny Bent after the frontman looked set to capitalise upon Gerrard's weak headed back pass.

Back up the other end and a neat move down the left involving Cole, Paul Konchesky and Kuyt ended with a Raul Meireles curler that Mignolet was relieved to see arc into his midriff.

There certainly seemed to be more attacking purpose about Liverpool's play, a fact further underlined by a slaloming 40-yard run from Martin Skrtel that ended with the Slovak defender dragging his shot wide.

Everything seemed in place for a routine home win until Sunderland were handed a lifeline on 25 minutes. Ahmed Elmohamady saw his cross from the left strike the hand of Christian Poulsen, leaving Atwell with another tough decision.

The official opted to point to the spot and up stepped Bent to level matters with a ferocious strike that Reina could only help on its way into the back of the net.

Suddenly Anfield had been silenced and with an eerie parallel to the Carling Cup tie with Northampton, the Reds completely lost their momentum.

The slick passing was suddenly gone in the midst of a midfield scrap and if Elmohamady's side foot volley from a right wing corner had been six inches to the left, the away side would have led at the interval.

Liverpool needed to find a second wind but it was Bruce's men that maintained the initiative and on 48 minutes they stunned the Kop with a goal out of nothing.

Nedum Onuoha raced to the right hand byline and whipped in a cross that arrowed invitingly towards Bent who bulleted a header into the corner.

It was a huge blow for the home side who struggled to regain their composure and it could have got much worse on 53 minutes when Reina's poor clearance dropped straight to Jordan Henderson, but his attempted lob was easily gathered by the scrambling stopper.

A moment of inspiration was the order of the day if Liverpool were to rescue anything from the game and on 64 minutes the captain provided it.

Torres found space to surge down the right and when he delivered a clever ball into the area, Gerrard arrived to head home a superb equaliser from eight yards out.

It was proving to be a rollercoaster of a match and with the crowd roaring their approval Liverpool began to take control.

A lightning break on 76 minutes almost put them ahead again, but after substitute David Ngog's low shot was beaten away by Mignolet, Cole saw his follow up brilliantly blocked by Phil Bardsley.

With time running out the home side continued to push for the winner but after Kuyt, Ngog and Glen Johnson all went close, Daniel Agger missed an injury-time header to ensure Sunderland held on for a point.