Liverpool's grandstand finish was not sufficient to earn them anything more than a point in Saturday's 0-0 draw against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park - another disappointment in a season of several so far for boss Rafa Benitez.
A crowd of 30,033, the largest at the ground since December 2002, only saw the game come to life in the closing stages after Benitez had put on substitutes Harry Kewell and Peter Crouch in a realisation that the game was there to be won.
In the final two minutes alone, Liverpool's Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt had two glorious chances to win the game but shot hastily over from six yards and drove a low shot wide of the mark in the 89th minute.
Incredibly, considering they remain unbeaten in the Premier League, Liverpool's season is turning into a major disappointment with six draws in 11 league games leaving them adrift of the leaders.
More alarmingly, defeat against Besiktas in the Champions League on Tuesday will see last year's runners-up exit the tournament.
With both teams operating with lone strikers - Roque Santa Cruz for the home side and Kuyt for the opposition - the lack of early goalmouth drama may have been predictable.
Two highly competent sides were able, by and large, to cancel out each other.
The first half, in particular, was a disappointment and largely devoid of incident.
A Santa Cruz flick in the 35th minute allowed David Bentley to better John Arne Riise and advance into the area where his shot scraped the Liverpool post and in injury-time David Dunn struck the cross-bar from 20 yards with the rebound falling tantalisingly beyond Morten Gamst Pedersen's control.
In response, Liverpool's sole attack of note ended with Ryan Babel cutting inside the area to make room for a ferocious shot which was well kept out by the dive of Brad Friedel.
At least the second half offered more in the way of entertainment for the bumper Ewood crowd with Liverpool obviously more enterprising in the final third.
Babel surged purposefully into the Rovers area in the early exchanges only to have his shot deflected behind and Kuyt should have done better when he drove a low cross straight at the keeper instead of firing the ball across the six-yard area.
In between, defender Christopher Samba, unfortunately for Rovers, had his team's best chance of the game after Riise made a hash of clearing Pedersen's right-wing cross.
The ball fell invitingly for the centre-half who took too long to control it and saw his effort beaten down by three defenders.
But, if Kuyt's earlier error had been bad, worse was to follow just after the hour when he charged down Ryan Nelsen's clearance and sprinted into the area before bizarrely trying to dribble around Friedel, unsuccessfully, instead of squaring the ball for a team-mate to score.
Then Andre Ooijer's hooked shot appeared to strike Jamie Carragher on the arm, an appeal turned down by referee Martin Atkinson, who instead awarded a corner from which a Santa Cruz header sailed just over the Liverpool goal.
Liverpool's second half improvement continued until the final whistle, the concluding 10 minutes of the game seeing the introduction of Peter Crouch and Benitez's team finally realising that this was the opportunity for an impressive victory.
Gerrard was sent away after a one-two with Kuyt and saw Friedel save magnificently from his well-struck shot before Bentley rose to clear Crouch's header, from Kewell's 80th minute corner, off the line.
