STEVEN GERRARD made a welcome return for Liverpool but couldn’t help Kenny Dalglish’s side avoid more Anfield frustration.

Gerrard emerged from the bench in the 69th minute of yesterday’s 1-1 home Premier League draw with rock-bottom Blackburn Rovers.

It was only the Liverpool skipper’s sixth appearance in nine months of an injury-hit campaign, and his first since the home draw with Norwich City on October 22 having suffered an ankle infection.

And Gerrard, who had been back in full training for a week, is now vying for a starting role for Friday’s visit of Newcastle United.

“It’s good to see Steven back,” said Liverpool manager Dalglish. “He has done really well in training. He looks to be fit, he just needs some time on the pitch to get back to full fitness.

“The difficulty for us was to decide who to take off. It’s not like we were playing poorly.

“If there’s a bit of a struggle you usually have two or three options but there’s no-one who stood out that needed to be taken off. But I needed to make changes to try and win the game.”

Blackburn’s point eases the pressure on their manager Steve Kean, who has been facing calls for his dismissal after a dismal campaign.

“I enjoyed it,” said Kean of the game. “We were a little bit disappointed how we started the second half, but that aside in the first half we got the defensive organisation spot on.

“We were disciplined and had worked to establish a platform to start counter-attacks.

“We knew Liverpool would have plenty of possession but we thought we could pick them off on the break.

“We had to hang in during the second half, and I thought the players’ discipline and defensive organisation merited a point.

“I hope to win the supporters over with more performances like this. Hopefully the fans can give us a good reception.”