Merseyside locked in stalemate

Liverpool 0

Everton 0

Merseyside's 152nd League derby ended in a dour, sour stalemate at Anfield last night. For Liverpool, this meant a third successive home failure in the wake of visits by Ipswich and Birmingham, while Everton. who had marked Joe Royle's debut as manager by beating the old enemy in November, continued their climb away from the relegation zone.

Everton almost gained their first victory across Stanley Park in 10 years when Duncan Ferguson met Matt Jackson's centre with eight minutes left. David James smothered his goalbound header, thereby ensuring the only just outcome to the match.

Hostilities were suspended to allow a dignified minute's silence in memory of Ian Frodsham, the young Liverpool player who died recently of cancer, though that gave way to a wall of sounds from the capacity crowd. The players could hardly fail to be affected and, sure enough, Ferguson was first to incur the wrath of the red legions, wrestling with Rob Jones only 10 minutes into his final appearance before a three-game suspension.

First, but not last. Brian Hill showed leniency on that occasion, but cautioned four of Ferguson's colleagues - Dave Watson, Joe Parkinson, David Burrows and David Unsworth - during a frenetic first half. Unsworth might have unwittingly opened the scoring by the time he was apprehended, his clearance from Steve McManaman's cross drifting perilously close to the Everton goal after a misunderstanding with Neville Southall.

Another defender's mistake, loose control by Phil Babb, allowed Matt Jackson a shooting opportunity which he ballooned into the Kop. Moments of attacking creativity were rarer, with Liverpool falling off-side no fewer than 10 times in the opening 35 minutes and Everton content to seek out Ferguson in the air and pounce upon the scraps.

Once, when the Scot jumped with John Scales, the ball broke to Parkinson, who drove just too high. Although Ferguson again embarrassed Liverpool's defence when allowed to bring down a through-ball, turn and volley into the hands of James, no one came closer before the interval than Robbie Fowler. He had one attempt charged down by Watson, and another parried by Southall.

The home supporters bayed for a red card when Fowler tumbled over the outstretched leg of Burrows, who was making his first derby appearance against his former club. The Everton left-back helped his one-time team-mate up, beaming broadly like Norman Hunter in his leg-biting heyday. Mr Hill, impressively firm up to this point, gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Phil Babb was less fortunate after balking Barry Horne - Liverpool's first booking coming on the hour - which merely served to intensify the crowd's sense of grievance. Otherwise the game remained bereft of composure, one of the few conspicuous differences being that John Barnes had seen fit to don gloves.

Barnes's sartorial switch did not noticeably enhance his contribution, too much of the England midfielder's time being spent on defensive duties. Jamie Redknapp, another whose positive qualities were under-utilised, slipped in the act of clearing with 20minutes remaining, enabling Horne to fire too close to the right-hand upright for James's comfort.

Liverpool (5-3-2): James; R Jones, Scales, Ruddock, Babb, Bjornebye; McManaman, Redknapp, Barnes; Fowler, Rush. Substitutes not used: Walters, Thomas, Stensgaard (gk).

Everton (4-4-2): Southall; Jackson, Unsworth, Watson, Burrows; Ebbrell, Horne, Parkinson, Hinchcliffe; Rideout, Ferguson. Substitutes not used: Limpar, Barlow, Reeves (gk).

Referee: B Hill (Market Harborough).