DAVID BLAINE, the renowned illusionist and endurance artist, was once infamously welcomed as a star guest at Exeter City. But there was no great mystery as to how Liverpool avoided their Carling Cup campaign being boxed in last night.

A rainswept, difficult evening at a ramshackle lower-league stadium may not quite match the glamour of a Copa America final.

But it makes no difference to Luis Suarez, who netted one goal and created two others to help Liverpool avoid a repeat of last season's humiliation and safely negotiate a path to the third round.

It was a landmark evening for Dalglish, who celebrated his 200th victory as Liverpool manager, with Maxi Rodriguez and Andy Carroll bolstering their confidence with fine second-half strikes.

Liverpool's previous appearance in this competition saw an understrength team suffer one of the most humiliating results in the club's history when they were eliminated at home by League Two Northampton Town.

There was never any chance of a repeat here. With no European football, the Carling Cup will be taken more seriously by Liverpool than it has been in recent seasons, and this was an efficient despatching of potentially troublesome opponents.

Last night demonstrated the strength in depth of the refashioned squad, with eight changes to the team that started the weekend win at Arsenal.

Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam were given a further opportunity to bed themselves in at Anfield, the former showing another gradual improvement.