Stoke City came away from Anfield with a lucky point as they held Liverpool to a 0-0 draw in their Premiership encounter on Saturday.

Stoke were content to sit back and soak up the pressure and were almost made to pay for their defensive approach when Steven Gerrard curled in a free kick from outside the area. However the linesman bizarrely ruled out the effort claiming that Dirk Kuyt was offside.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will be disappointed with his side's performance as the hosts dominated the possession right from the kick off. Liverpool had an early chance to take the lead and Gerrard, who needed just one goal to become the 16th Liverpool player to score 100 goals for his club, looked to have secured that landmark when his curling free kick beat Thomas Sorensen in the goal but the effort was controversially ruled out by referee Andre Marriner who had seen the linesman flag for an offside.

Robbie Keane had a great chance to break his duck for Liverpool but only managed to shoot straight into the waiting hands of Sorensen as Liverpool struggled to create any real chance in the first half. Liverpool's only other chance in the opening 45 minutes fell to Xabi Alonso who 20-yard drive was palmed away brilliantly by Sorensen.

The former Aston Villa keeper was in great form for Stoke as he pulled off great saves to deny Keane and Torres early in the second half. Jamie Carragher, Babel, Kuyt and Gerrard all had decent chances to break the deadlock but were unable to beat Sorensen in the goal. Torres almost snatched the winner late in the 88th minute but his shot was cleared off the line by Andy Griffin to ensure that both the teams shared the points.