HALF-TIME UPDATE: Liverpool 1-2 Birmingham - City Lead At Break With Benitez & Jerome Strikes

Liverpool are currently drawing 1-1 with Birmingham City in their Premier League match at Anfield on Monday evening.

Liverpool commanded the first-half, with David N’Gog scoring the opener for Liverpool, but some dreadful defending from the home-side allowed Birmingham City to draw level soon after, with Christain Benitez scoring his first goal for Birmingham City.

Cameron Jerome gave Birmingham City the lead in the second minute of injury-time in the first-half, with a stunning long-range strike that gave Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina no chance of blocking.

Liverpool were without vice-captain Jamie Carragher and Phillip Degen through suspension, while striker Fernando Torres has failed to recover from injury and missed out.

Further bad news for Liverpool boss Benitez is that Reds skipper Steven Gerrard had to start the match against Birmingham City on the bench.

New signing Alberto Aquilani was also named in the substitutes, along with Gerrard and Ryan Babel.

Teemu Tainio replaced City midfielder Barry Ferguson who was suspended for the match after receiving two yellow-cards in last Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Manchester City, while James McFadden, Cameron Jerome and Christian Benitez all started in attack for Birmingham City.

Liverpool started the first-half in command and had some early attempts at goal to test Birmingham City keeper Joe Hart.

Yossi Benayoun forced an early save, while skipper on the night Dirk Kuyt also caused problems early-on.

Liverpool took the lead in the 13th minute, despite some excellent goalkeepeing from Joe Hart.

Glen Johnson played a dangerous ball into the area, with David N’Gog having the first attempt on goal, which was parried away well, but into the path of Dirk Kuyt, whose shot from 6-yards was brilliantly blocked by the England goalkeeper.

But the ball fell to winger Albert Riera, who played a superb ball across goal to N’Gog, who smashed home the opening goal from 6-yards into the roof of the net to make it 1-0 to Liverpool.

Teemu Tainio was forced off the pitch early-on after suffering a recurrence of his knee injury, with Lee Crasley replacing the Finnish midfielder.

N’Gog, who replaced Torres in attack for Liverpool, was playing extremely well, and almost doubled the score-line from close-range in the 24th minute, but failed to latch onto a great cross from Glen Johnson, who was in full control of the right-wing.

Completely against the run-of-play, Birmingham City scored an equaliser through a header from Christian Benitez, scoring his first ever goal in English football.

Lee Bowyer was the provider, heading a James McFadden free-kick into the penalty area through the disorganised Liverpool backline for the unmarked Benitez to head past Pepe Reina from 4-yards to make it 1-1.

Liverpool had a host of opportunities to take the lead within the next few minutes and, despite a goalmouth scramble that saw Javier Mascherano, Lucas Leiva and Martin Skrtel all miss chances, the scores somehow remained level at the half-hour mark.

The home-side continued to press, but some excellent last gasp defending from Birmingham City kept the scores level.

Albert Riera was forced off the pitch in the final minute of the first-half, with the Spaniard suffering a recurrence of his recent hamstring injury, with Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard replacing him, much to the joy of the watching Liverpool fans.

But Birmingham scored a second goal in the second minute of injury-time, with Cameron Jerome scoring a contender for goal of the month, if not season in the process.

The City striker managed to latch on to a lofted ball midway in the Liverpool half, beating Mascherano and unleashing a wonderful volley from 30-yards to give Alex McLeish's side the lead at the break.

Despite Liverpoool having commanded the possession and chances in the first-half, the scoreline was 2-1 at the break, with a superb goal from Jerome giving the visitors the lead at halftime.

Liverpool v Birmingham City Full Teamsheets:

Liverpool Team: Reina, Johnson, Agger, Riera (Gerrard, 45), Skrtel, Insua, Benayoun, Kuyt, Mascherano, Lucas, N'Gog.

Liverpool Substitutes: Cavalieri, Aquilani, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Spearing, Darby.

Birmingham City Team: Hart, Carr. R. Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Bowyer, Tainio (Carsley, 15), McFadden, Benitez, Jerome.

Birmingham City Substitutes: Taylor, Espinoza, Queudrue, Gregory Vignal, McSheffrey, Phillips.