Reds through to group stage

Liverpool's second win in Turkey will hardly rank alongside their first in Istanbul five years ago.

But in the context of Roy Hodgson's Anfield reign, this victory cannot be underestimated.

He has averted his first mini crisis and the cracks, which opened up at Eastlands would only have widened if he had become the first Reds boss ever to exit Europe in August.

Hodgson gambled big time by taking such a weakened squad to this footballing outpost on the shores of the Black Sea and his decision paid off handsomely.

He claimed the Europa League was a distant second to the Premier League in his list of priorities this season, but make no mistake, this win meant everything to win.

At the final whistle he clenched his fist and beamed a huge smile to his No 2 Sammy Lee.

He was delighted by the character his patched-up side displayed, not just after their humiliating defeat at Manchester City, but by the way they came back from conceding an early goal down to record their first-ever win away against Turkish opposition.

They tamed Turkish Cup winners Trabzonspor with all the skill of an experienced matador and by the end the only noise that could be heard was the distant strains of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' from the 100 hardy away fans stuck up in one corner.

Liverpool were able to draw on their buckets of European experience and Joe Cole again showed he is settling in well in his role in the hole.

The Reds made a dreadful start when Trabzonspor, roared on by the raucous home fans in their red and blue plastic macs to shield them from heavy rain, cancelled out their first-leg lead in the fourth minute.

Dirk Kuyt lost the ball to Gustavo Colman in midfield and he played a diagonal ball to the unmarked Teofilo Gutierrez who scored past Pepe Reina.

The Reds were rocking and Ibrahima Yattara broke down the right, beating Christian Poulsen in the box, before Mr Reliable Jamie Carragher threw himself in front of the ball to deflect his shot wide.

Colman's shot from the corner was well saved by Reina, who was being targeted by a Trabzonspor fan with a laser pen.

Referee Ivan Bebek was unimpressed by the stunt and stopped play to warn Trabzonspor officials that he would call off the game if they didn't root out the culprit.

Liverpool slowly began to pass their way back into the game on the rain-soaked pitch and after Glen Johnson had an effort disallowed for offside, Lucas managed their first shot on target on 43 minutes with a 30-yard low drive, which was saved by Onur Kivrak.

The momentum had shifted and now it was the Reds who liked more likely to score the decisive second goal.

David Ngog had two great chances in the space of five minutes to put Liverpool through.

From the first one, he headed wide from Joe Cole's great left-wing cross to the back post and a drenched Hodgson could not believe it as he held his head in his hands.

The French striker then showed great trickery to turn Egemen Korkmaz as he weaved his way into the box, only to plant his shot agonisingly wide of the right-hand post.

Liverpool kept up the pressure and Aurelio had a free-kick deflected wide before Liverpool scored their killer away goal on 82 minutes.

Glen Johnson did well down the right, beating Korkmaz, and then crossed for Ngog and his shot went in off Remzi Giray for an own goal.

Trabzonspor were deflated and Liverpool rubber-stamped their place in today's draw for the Europa League group stages when Kivrak spilt substitute Dani Pacheco's shot and Kuyt knocked home the rebound.

Hero: Jamie Carragher. Typical gutsy performance from the Reds stalwart.

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