Derby County 1 Liverpool 2

PAUL Jewell hailed Derby's battling display, despite losing in the final seconds to a Steven Gerrard goal.

Liverpool were stretched to the limits before scrambling a fortunate 2-1 win at Pride Park against the bottom side.

Fernando Torres scored in the first half as Liverpool ran the game with embarrassing ease, but Derby's spirit after the break saw them equalise through Jay McEveley.

It got so tense that rival managers Jewell and Rafael Benitez exchanged heated words after McEveley was booked for a foul on Andriy Voronin.

Jewell said: I told them they had to compete in the second period, have a right go at them. I wasn't asking them to kick people, just to compete and make tackles.

We are never going to beat Liverpool at football, but we can match their effort, determination and belief.

We certainly did that eventually.

For that incident with Voronin, Jay (McEveley) didn't touch him. And I told people that.

If he had caught him, the lad would not have got up again. But I am not that bothered about the incident, it was trivial. I am more concerned with finding the positives in the game for us.'' Benitez said: Paul Jewell had a different view of the incident from me, that is football. We disagreed.

But Paul didn't tackle me, so I was OK out there!'' Derby may have lost, but they were cheered off by their fans who appreciated the effort put in by a side riddled with injuries.

Steven Bywater pulled out only minutes from the start with a shoulder injury, Stephen Pearson is in hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder and substitute Robert Earnshaw pulled a calf muscle, leaving Derby with only ten fit men for the final 15 minutes.