IT may have been a first time for John W Henry, but it was something Liverpool supporters have witnessed again and again.

On his debut at Anfield, the club's new American owner saw Steven Gerrard ride to the rescue and transform an imminent Europa League defeat into glorious victory while sparing Roy Hodgson another inquest.

With a lacklustre Liverpool trailing to Napoli at the interval, the call came. And how Gerrard responded, stepping off the bench to score a remarkable hat-trick inside the final 15 minutes and move the Anfield outfit to the brink of qualification.

Even by his own lofty standards, this was a special achievement, the fourth and undoubtedly finest treble of a glittering career.

And while Gerrard kissed the matchball at the final whistle, Hodgson would have been forgiven for a similarly appreciative gesture towards his captain.

Certainly, until Gerrard's intervention, the only real signs of progress at Anfield had been in the directors' box rather than on the pitch, where Henry was joined by new director of football strategy Damien Comolli.

Henry was taking in his first match at Anfield since heading New England Sports Ventures' £300million takeover of the club last month, and if first impressions count for anything then Hodgson can expect some taxing questions during the pair's next meeting.

Wednesday's arrival of Comolli, a former director of football at Tottenham Hotspur, was taken in some quarters as undermining Hodgson's authority, despite the manager warmly welcoming a change of structure to one which he is accustomed.

A poor result last night would have been as badly timed as Salvatore Aronica's dreadful second-half tackle on David Ngog from which the Frenchman was fortunate to limp away from.