LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez refused to blame Darren Bent’s controversial goal for Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Sunderland.

The striker’s fifth-minute strike deflected off a beach ball thrown on to the pitch by a visiting supporter and flew past Pepe Reina.

According to the laws of the game, the beach ball should have been considered an “outside agent” and referee Mike Jones should have disallowed the goal and awarded a drop ball.

However, Benitez admitted Liverpool were second best throughout against Steve Bruce’s Black Cats.

“We had bad luck with the goal, but the team were not doing well so that is something we have to fix,” Benitez said.

“The other things you cannot control. I couldn’t see what had happened. We were asking and they told us but you cannot change things.

“We had some players who we knew could be a little bit tired, and then conceding after four minutes it was even more difficult.

“After that we couldn’t react properly. We made some mistakes and gave the ball away. After the goal they played well on the counter-attack.

“We have to do better if we want to win these kind of games.”

Liverpool’s fourth league defeat of the season leaves them in eighth spot – seven points behind leaders Manchester United, who travel to Anfield next Sunday.

Benitez admits his side can’t afford many more slip-ups if they are going to mount a title challenge this season.

“In a normal season teams at the top would be winning every game and it would be a long distance to the top now but Chelsea have lost two games and I think we’ll see a lot of top teams lose games,” he insisted.

“Losing four games is bad but crucial? That all depends on the next few games. If we can win two or three games in a row we can be at the top of the table. It’s a question of keeping our confidence, working hard and trying to do better.

“You have to analyse some things and we need to find solutions.”

Benitez insisted the absence of injured duo Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres was no excuse for his side’s poor display at the Stadium of Light.

However, he hopes they will both return to action in tomorrow night’s Champions League clash at home to Lyon.

“Both players are very important to us, but still we have enough quality in the squad,” he said.

“I think a lot of players tried and worked very hard but it was difficult because you could see a lot were very tired.