traditional curtain raiser at Wembley, the Charity Shield, Liverpool faced derby rivals Everton, who had lost out to the Reds in both the previous season's League and FA Cup campaigns. The usual high tempo game ended in a 1–1 draw with both clubs sharing the shield. He featured in 33 out of 42 league games that season. Venison was a League Cup final loser again in his first season at Anfield, when Liverpool were defeated by Arsenal in the 1987 final. He was also denied the chance of league title glory as the Reds were beaten into second place in the league by their neighbours Everton. He played 18 times for Liverpool when they secured League championship in 1988, losing just two out of 40 league games. Unfortunately, the emergence of fellow young defender Gary Ablett forced Dalglish into reshaping his defence and Venison was the player who lost his place in the team as a result. He was also hampered by injury and was unavailable for that season's FA Cup final, which Liverpool unexpectedly lost to Wimbledon. The next season would see Venison's first goal for the club, it came on 29 August 1988 in the 4–1 thrashing of Nottingham Forest in the quarter finals of the Centenary trophy. Venison featured in more games but with fewer starts, often named as one of the two permitted substitutes. Venison, along with his teammates, rallied round the bereaved families of the Hillsborough disaster in April 1989, attending a number of the funerals, he then played his role as Liverpool reached the final of the FA Cup again. Dalglish brought him on as an extra-time substitute as Liverpool defeated Merseyside rivals Everton 3–2. They later lost the League title in a decider against Arsenal at Anfield after Michael Thomas scored the winner with virtually the last kick of the whole season. Venison was on the bench again. 1990 saw Venison play 25 times in the league and earn another championship medal as Liverpool secured their 18th top division title. The following campaign was a non-event for Venison as he only managed a total of 14 appearances in all competitions, however, this did include another Wembley appearance as the Reds faced bitter rivals Manchester United in the Charity Shield, again, the Reds had to share the trophy as they drew 1–1 with their North West rivals. Venison scored what would be his only