THERE have been so many false dawns at Anfield this season. The ruthless 6-1 thrashing of Hull City in late September was followed by a bewildering sequence of four straight defeats.

After the morale-boosting 2-0 triumph over champions Manchester United, came a miserable five-game winless streak.

Then from the delight of a hard-fought derby victory at Goodison Park last month, spirits were dampened by a dour stalemate at Blackburn and successive home defeats at the hands of Fiorentina and Arsenal.

Considering what has gone before, it was hardly a surprise that nobody was getting carried away with Wednesday night’s 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic.

It wasn’t pretty and Liverpool’s failure to kill off the Latics ensured it was a nervous night at Anfield.

However, Javier Mascherano insists maximum points was all that mattered as Rafael Benitez’s side look to kick-start their bid for Champions League qualification.

Victory lifted them to sixth, five points adrift of fourth-placed Aston Villa, ahead of tomorrow’s clash with bottom club Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Mascherano knows they can’t afford another slump and has called on his side to ensure the midweek success acts as a springboard to a lengthy unbeaten run.

“The most important thing against Wigan was to win because we needed it,” Mascherano said.

“We want to play better and improve, so it is important that we keep going.

“We will see if we can win at Portsmouth and if we can do that it will be three amazing points.

“It’s vital for us to be in the top four and we are trying to get there. It has been difficult but it was just important to get winning again. We know that we have to start working hard to win games in a row.

“It is going to be difficult if we keep losing points to be in the top four in February/March.”

The Argentinean midfielder admits belief has been in desperately short supply after the events of recent months which have seen hopes of European and domestic glory dashed.

It was underlined by last Sunday’s second-half capitulation against Arsenal.

“I agree with the boss when he said the confidence was gone,” Mascherano said.

“In the first half Arsenal didn’t have a kick to our goal so it is difficult to explain how this team can go and play two different halves. It’s almost impossible to explain.

We conceded an early goal in the second half and then they kept coming at us. But in football, I always say it is 80 per cent mental, the other 20 per cent is physical and tactics. If a player has confidence, it is easy for the team.

“I know at this moment all the players feel a little bit of pressure but the top players are used to having that pressure and doing well. The problem for us this season is that we have had so many injuries and two of them were Stevie (Gerrard) and Fernando (Torres). They are our most important players and we cannot forget they have been coming back from injury.

“We have to give them time to be 100 per cent. It is really important to have them in the squad.”