Kuyt: Why 50th is so special

Dirk Kuyt reckons Liverpool are now playing with 'the belief' required to secure a top four finish after his 50th goal for the club clinched a hard-fought victory in Saturday's Merseyside derby.

The Holland international stretched the Reds' unbeaten run to seven league matches with a 54^th minute header after Sotirios Kyrgiakos' first-half red card had threatened to hand Everton the initiative.

The landmark strike coupled with the overall nature of the triumph was particularly sweet for Kuyt, who feels Rafael Benitez's men are beginning to find their form at just the right time.

"It's a great feeling and I'm really happy to have scored 50 goals for the club, especially in a game like this," he said.

"But I don't think it mattered who scored, just that we got the win.

"I think we showed belief when we had 10 men and that comes from the confidence we have built up over the last few games. We had to believe that we could still win the game and we did that.

"Out of the last seven matches we have taken 17 points and have kept six clean sheets, so you can see from those results that we are playing better and our confidence is up.

"Now we have to keep going and make sure we are ready for the next game at Arsenal."

He added: "We've had a massive win and we will enjoy the victory. But after that we must focus on the next two games which are very, very important. We have to show that we really are back to our best form."

Click here to watch highlights of our derby triumph>>