Published 4/19/2007 8:55:36 AM by staff from afp

Steven Gerrard scored both goals in front of England manager Steve McClaren as Liverpool returned to the Premiership's top three with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough at Anfield on Wednesday. The Liverpool captain netted his 10th and 11th of the season to rescue the Champions League semifinalists following a lacklustre performance.

Liverpool were nothing like their vintage best as they made heavy weather of seeing off a Middlesbrough side which threatened to leave Merseyside with a point before Gerrard's scored twice in six 2nd half minutes.  McClaren has had little to smile about during England's faltering Euro 2008 qualifying campaign yet the former Middlesbrough manager will have been delighted as Gerrard turned in a man-of-the-match performance.

The result was enough to lift Rafa Benitez's side back above Arsenal, who beat Manchester City 3-1 into third spot. Victory over struggling Wigan Athletic on Saturday at Anfield will guarantee Liverpool a place in next season's final qualifying round for the Champions League.

Anfield has proved something of a graveyard for Middlesbrough in recent years. They have not won on their previous 18 league visits, a run stretching 31 years yet the visitors spurned a glorious chance to take the lead in a tedious first half.   An uncharacteristic error by England defender Jamie Carragher gifted Fabio Rochemback a super chance in the 40th minute, but the Brazilian midfielder, who has scored in each of his last two games, let the Champions League semifinalists off the hook when he failed to find the target

This was Liverpool's 52nd game of the season and it showed as they struggled to carve out chances against a Middlesbrough side which had lost three of their previous four Premiership outings. Apart from a tame long-range effort by Argentinian Javier Mascherano, Middlesbrough keeper Mark Schwarzer was not tested in a frustrating opening 45 minutes. And on a rare occasions Liverpool did manage to open up the Boro defence, their finishing left a lot to be desired with Momo Sissoko the chief culprit.

The first of Sissoko's two glaring misses came after a rare moment of quality. Jermaine Pennant skipped past a couple of challenges before squaring the ball into the path of the former Auxerre player who side-footed wide from close range. Three minutes before half time the same player, who has yet to score since joining from Valencia in the summer of 2005, was guilty of squandering another opportunity as he misfired badly following more good work by Pennant.

Liverpool upped the tempo after the interval, Mascherano hitting the bar from a 50th minute header following a corner by former Middlesbrough player Boudewijn Zenden before Zenden powered a great chance over the bar. The night looked set to end in frustration for Liverpool before Gerrard intervened in the 58th minute with an unstoppable 25 yard effort which gave Schwarzer no chance.  Middlesbrough faded badly and Gerrard wrapped up the points from the penalty spot after referee Graham Poll had adjudged Andrew Davies to have brought down Peter Crouch in the 64th minute.

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