He was more determined than anyone to make amends, but when Liverpool’s reply arrived two minutes later it was from a more familiar source.

A leggy Kuyt struggled badly as a lone striker, as he did against Blackburn Rovers a week previously, with the Dutchman lacking the attributes for the demands of the role.

But after breaking down the right flank, where he has excelled so often this term, the forward delivered a telling cross which Gerrard collected and finished with aplomb from close range.

Benitez has spent much of his reign at Anfield attempting to curb the roaming instincts of his captain but once again Gerrard’s energy and drive masked the failings of his manager’s tactics.

The midfielder by now had taken control of the game, although his passing, like that of many of his midfield colleagues, fell below his usual high standards.

Hull goalscorer McShane found one, admittedly illegal, way of stopping the rampant Gerrard with a body check that earned him a yellow card. He was immediately withdrawn, with boss Phil Brown later revealing he was suffering from double vision.

He wasn’t the only Hull defender who must have believed there were two Gerrards roaming the pitch, as the Whiston-born midfielder collected Yossi Benayoun’s layoff in the penalty area to grab an equaliser and Liverpool’s 600th Premier League goal. Hull manager Brown later argued with some justification that Kuyt, who nodded down for Benayoun in the build-up to the goal, had impeded Michael Turner.

There is much to admire about Brown’s Hull side but they lost much of their attacking impetus when Mendy dropped back to plug the gap left by McShane’s withdrawl. Dossena was certainly a relieved man.

Gerrard’s goal did much to quell the anxiety inside Anfield but as the game progressed the crowd’s impatience grew. Xabi Alonso and Albert Riera both went close in the second half and the evergreen Sami Hyypia headed against an upright but Wales keeper Boaz Myhill was decreasingly troubled as the clock ticked towards full time.

Benitez made his changes with the introduction of Babel, El Zhar and Lucas, but for the third consecutive home game, the manager’s substitutions failed to make an impact on the game.