Blackburn 0-0 Liverpool

Liverpool's title ambitions suffered a further setback as Blackburn produced a resilient defensive performance to hold the Anfield club to a goalless draw.

After a dour first half, Franco di Santo hesitated after being played through on goal by Steven N'Zonzi.

Steven Gerrard had chances to break the deadlock and a penalty shout turned down as Liverpool pushed for a winner.

They should have had one but David Ngog could only volley Glen Johnson's cross against the bar with the goal gaping.

The result, allied to Aston Villa's victory over Hull, means Rafael Benitez's side drop to sixth in the table. They are two points above Manchester City but have played two games more.

Blackburn were good value for their point, which keeps them 12th and means they have now lost only two of the 25 home games they have played in all competitions under boss Sam Allardyce.

Rovers came into the game buoyed by Wednesday's Carling Cup quarter-final victory over Chelsea and boosted by the return to work of Allardyce following heart surgery.

Despite featuring four changes from the side which beat the Blues on penalties, they looked slightly off the pace early on as a number of passes went astray and Liverpool enjoyed plenty of possession.

Although the visitors were without Fernando Torres for a fifth successive game, Gerrard was fit to make a landmark 500th Reds appearance against the same club he faced on his debut in November 2009.

In Torres' absence, Dirk Kuyt was deployed as the lone striker with Gerrard, Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera providing support. But, of that quartet, only Gerrard looked even remotely dangerous in the opening exchanges.

Well-organised and physically imposing, Blackburn's back four repelled everything Liverpool had to throw at them and gradually their midfield and attack began to grow in confidence.

A couple of mistimed tackles by Daniel Agger gave Blackburn free-kicks in promising positions on the right but both set-pieces were comfortably repelled.

Gerrard almost broke clear when he capitalised on a sloppy piece of control by Pascal Chimbonda but then lost out to Christopher Samba, while at the other end Samba headed straight at Pepe Reina from an unmarked position.

The best chance of an error-strewn half fell to Gerrard, who received possession from Riera on the left, opened his body and attempted to place his shot into the far corner, only for Samba to deflect the ball behind.

Samba was again on hand to deny Gerrard with a perfectly-timed sliding tackle at the start of the second half and, moments later, Blackburn might have taken the lead.

Di Santo was released by N'Zonzi but seemed surprised that he had not been flagged offside, delayed and enabled Jamie Carragher to get back with a covering challenge before he could shoot.

Fortunately for all, the tempo was raised significantly after the break and Gerrard fizzed a drive straight at Paul Robinson before having a penalty shout rejected after a coming together with N'Zonzi.

The arrival of Ngog in place of Riera gave Liverpool greater presence up front and the Frenchman ought to have opened the scoring when Glen Johnson burst to the byeline and squared from the right.

Ngog came storming into the six-yard box but, faced with an open goal, contrived to shin the ball against the crossbar. Kuyt's goalbound follow-up was diverted to safety by Samba.

Blackburn threatened sporadically on the counter-attack - Benni McCarthy and Vince Grella drilled wide before Nikola Kalinic tentatively prodded wide when one-on-one with Reina.

Gerrard assumed a growing influence on proceedings but Liverpool lacked the finishing touch that Torres so often provides and were forced to settle for a point.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the views or position of Liverpool Football Club.