Wolves stun Liverpool

Mick McCarthy's side were bottom of the table and had managed only one point on their travels all season, at nearby Everton, but they gave their survival hopes a massive boost by relegating West Ham to 20th place ahead of the New Year.

This was certainly no smash-and-grab raid as the visitors more than matched their illustrious opponents to spark boos at the final whistle and chants for Rafa Benitez and Kenny Dalglish from The Kop.

The focus will be on Hodgson's position after a shot-shy display that clearly angered the home crowd against well-drilled opponents who showed superior spirit and also skill for long periods.

Steven Gerrard, returning from his six-week injury lay-off, soon got back into the groove with a neat pass and crunching tackle, and the hosts really should have gone ahead in the seventh minute.

After David Ngog was flattened, Fernando Torres's quick free-kick released Raul Meireles but the Portugal international failed to beat Wayne Hennessey in a one-on-one situation with Richard Stearman heading away the rebound.

Wolves bounced back to produce an effort of their own when Stephen Hunt lobbed over the top following a corner and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake almost pounced when Sotirios Krygiakos dallied inside his own box.

McCarthy's side enjoyed spells of real pressure without really testing Pepe Reina as the likes of Matt Jarvis and George Elokobi overhit crosses from promising positions.

Ngog, who had a disappointing first half, did manage a stinging shot on target that produced a comfortable save by Hennessey as Anfield remained largely subdued.

If Peter Walton had spotted a tug on Krygiakos's shirt by Berra in the box, Liverpool could have been gifted a clear route to goal through a penalty but, instead, they toiled all the way to the interval.

Some boos greeted the half-time whistle after a 45 minutes where it was difficult to pick out which side was bottom of the Premier League table.

The fact that Reina had 14 more touches of the ball in the first half than Torres said it all and, after a brief flurry of pressure after the interval - when Ngog had a header easily saved by Hennessey - the match reverted back to the same pattern.

Kyrgiakos exacted some revenge on Berra by wrestling his opponent to the floor at Wolves' set-pieces, again going unpunished by referee Walton, while Ngog shovelled a Glen Johnson pass wide from close range in a rare moment of threat for Hennessey.

Reina displayed his nerves by gifting the ball to Ebanks-Blake but it went unpunished and the Spanish keeper did better with saving a Ronald Zubar effort.

Soon after the tireless Ebanks-Blake failed to divert a Elokobi cross on target, the only goal arrived. Kyrgiakos's headed clearance fell to Ebanks-Blake and his pass zipped past Martin Skrtel. Ward was left through on goal and just managed to get to the ball ahead of Reina to toe-poke it into the far corner.

Anfield was stunned but it was not as if it was undeserved and Wolves continued to enjoy plenty of possession even after going ahead.

The restless natives started chanting for former bosses Benitez and Dalglish and jeered the substitution of Ngog for Ryan Babel.

There were cheers - but only because Paul Konchesky was withdrawn - but little to get the home fans off their seats although Babel was perhaps wrongly flagged offside when he chased after a long ball down the middle.

Skrtel did have the ball in the net with two minutes remaining from a Gerrard free-kick but the Wolves defence had, a little riskily, pushed out en masse to catch him offside.

Hennessey was brought into action to win a couple of punches as Krygiakos was thrown up front late on but there were few, if any scares, for the Welsh keeper and McCarthy was soon clenching his fist in delight at the final whistle.

Wolves move off the bottom with this shock result and full credit must go to them but much of the focus will be on Hodgson and whether he can win over the disgruntled supporters in the wake of this disastrous performance.