Kenny Dalglish and Davie Moyes had to settle for a point each as two former Celtic players faced upto each other in the Merseyside derby for the first time.
Both men had reasons to be grateful and for regret in the derby which leaves the two clubs in the bottom half of the table just four points above the drop zone.
Three games in to his return to management Dalglish is still looking for his first win with the familiar failings that have dogged Liverpool over the last 18 months evident as Everton snatched two goals within 6 minutes at the start of the second half to turn the match around.
Raul Meireles opened the scoring in the 29th minute after Tim Howard twice denied Dirk Kuyt but Sylvain Distin and Jermaine Beckford struck early in the second half to the delight of the Everton support behind Pepe Reina’s goal.
Kuyt levelled the scores from the penalty spot midway through the second half with Dalglish feeling that his side deserved more than a point for their efforts.
The Kop favourite said: “I think we were a bit unfortunate to only come in 1-0 up and then they scored two quick goals and we showed great desire and determination to get back into the game.
“Overall I thought we had more shots and more clear-cut chances and possibly we could say we deserved more from the game.
“At the moment there is not a great deal of fortune going our way but it is great credit to the players that they continue to chip away to try to get some luck.”
Despite being denied his first win at Anfield Moyes was pleased by the way that his side survived Liverpool’s first half onslaught to take a point.
The Everton boss said: “In the first half we never got to the pitch of the game and it looked as if we had some young players in the team who looked overawed by the start of the game.
“Liverpool won all the duels so it needed a word to correct it at half-time and in the second half we were terrific.
“I thought we had a chance when it went to 2-1 because we were on top but we were missing three or four big players.
“I know Liverpool were missing two (Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher) but it is different for a club like Everton, who have a much smaller squad.”
On Saturday Liverpool travel to Wolves with Everton hosting West Ham.
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