up in the expensive seats, steven gerrard looked down on another fruitless appeal for a liverpool penalty and blew out his cheeks this was one of those days at anfield for all their improvement in the second half of the season, liverpool are still capable of throwing in a performance like this from time to time there are still days when the cogs in the machine don’t run smoothly, days when the absence of any kind of plan b hurts liverpool and hurts them badly blackburn were terrific here they defended brilliantly, ran hard and stuck to a game plan devised by manager gary bowyer to deny liverpool the space between the defensive and midfield lines that their playmakers love to work in blackburn defended stubbornly to stop players such as philippe coutinho (centre) from having an impact for liverpool  steven gerrard (left) was in the stands watching the game at anfield, as was former team mate and sportsmail columnist jamie carragher  gerrard did not play for liverpool due to injury but the supporters are desperate to get to wembley in his final season at the club  martin skrtel (right) landed awkwardly and play was halted for eight minutes as he was treated by medical staff  skrtel  lies on the ground after contesting a header with the blackburn rovers forward rudy gestede  emre can (centre) stands over skrtel before calling for medical assistance for his liverpool team mate  skrtel was moving his arms as he was carried off on a stretcher in the 11th minute of liverpool's fa cup tie  a week earlier here at anfield, barclays premier league champions manchester city found it impossible to plug those gaps as a result, liverpool’s brazilian philippe coutinho won that game almost on his own here, though, blackburn found the key and, as a result, liverpool ran out of ideas the visitors’ formation squeezed the life out of liverpool while their two central defenders alex baptiste and matthew kilgallon cleaned up everything that brendan rodgers’ team did manage to throw in to the penalty area on the break, blackburn were dangerous too without their much discussed centre forward josh king – who was injured   the championship side relied heavily on the imposing figure of rudy gestede and he worried liverpool’s back three all afternoon but especially in the first half perhaps liverpool were unsettled by a nasty injury to their own defender martin skrtel in the very first minute a header from alex baptiste (second left) brought a fine save from simon mignolet at the start of the second half  mignolet (centre) made a superb save to tip the header from baptiste away at the beginning of the second half  kolo toure (left) hit the back of the net in the first half but his strike was ruled out for offside  toure (right) replaced the injured skrtel and also hit the post with a header in the second half  mario balotelli came on in the second half for liverpool but was unable to find a way through the blackburn defence  liverpool: mignolet 65, johnson 6, skrtel 6 (toure 11, 6), lovren 6, markovic 65 (balotelli 59, 6), henderson 65, can 6, lallana 5, sterling 55, sturridge 65, coutinho 55  subs not used: lambert, sakho, moreno, williams, ward bookings: can  blackburn: eastwood 7, henley 65, baptiste 7, kilgallon 75, olsson 65, cairney, marshall 6 (taylor 68, 6), williamson 75, evans 65, conway 6, gestede 8  subs not used: spurr, brown, rhodes,  henry, lenihan, steele bookings: cairney  att: 43,820  *ratings by chris wheeler at anfield  the slovakian fell awkwardly in a challenge with gestede and was treated for what looked like a neck injury for eight minutes happily he was okay by half time and able to watch the rest of the game no doubt he found it as frustrating as the majority crammed inside anfield liverpool were not dreadful they were the better team but by their own improving standards, their football lacked crispness and rhythm and as such they found it difficult to ever gather momentum blackburn were actually the first to show after skrtel’s injury and gestede was the game’s most influential player for 25 minutes the manner in which he forced liverpool goalkeeper simon mignolet in to a mistake under a high ball seemed portentous while the dummy he sold raheem sterling to give craig conway a sight of goal on the overlap soon after was terrific sadly for blackburn, conway’s shot flew high and wide there was the occasional moment of cohesion from the home team but far fewer than we would have expected liverpool may have had a penalty in the 19th minute when kilgallon appeared to bundle over the largely ineffectual adam lallana in the penalty area did the defender’s toe just touch the ball first? perhaps that apart, there were a couple of long shots from coutinho after his recent success from distance, nobody could blame the brazilian for having a go on this occasion, his range was set too high, however skrtel’s replacement toured did have the ball in the net in the 34th minute after a free kick dropped invitingly to him six yards out but he was a yard offside then, during the eight extra minutes added for skrtel’s injury, lazar markovic and daniel sturridge brought saves from simon eastwood it was notable that they were the first two the blackburn goalkeeper had been asked to make all half liverpool attacker adam lallana (right) was denied a penalty after tumbling from a challenge by matt kilgallon of blackburn  can (left) battles for the ball with tom cairney of blackburn rovers as the first half ended goalless at anfield  can (right), who was playing in midfield on sunday for liverpool, challenges for the ball with lee williamson of blackburn  liverpool playmaker coutinho (left) tries to escape the attention of blackburn's williamson but the reds struggled going forward  daniel sturridge (centre) is tackled by baptiste as liverpool's attack toiled against a stubborn blackburn back four  lazar markovic (left) of liverpool chases down blackburn's ben marshall during the fa cup quarter final at anfield  blackburn's cairney (right) turns away from liverpool captain jordan henderson in the game at anfield  raheem sterling leaps over the challenge from adam henley (left) of blackburn but the ball rolls out of play  after the interval, liverpool did build pressure as blackburn’s energy levels dropped, they found it harder to break still, though, blackburn had the best chance as baptiste’s header from a corner in the 48th minute was brilliantly touched over by mignolet beyond that fright, liverpool’s football was undeniably quicker, neater and indeed more progressive still, though, they found it hard to penetrate the wall of blue indeed, all that rodgers’ team really had to show for their efforts as the game reached the last 20 minutes was a shot by sturridge that was blocked by baptiste and a follow up from coutinho that must have landed somewhere in the environs of goodison park blackburn manager gary bowyer shouts instructions to his players during the fa cup game against liverpool  liverpool manager brendan rodgers  will be frustrated by his team's lacklustre performance on a frustrating afternoon  amid all this, though, there was a more convincing penalty shout, sturridge going down as kilgallon sought to impede his run with an outstretched arm it was the type of penalty appeal that generally tends to be ignored heaven knows why the use of the arm by defenders is not in the rules in the last ten minutes there were two more saves for eastwood to make, one from substitute mario balotelli and one from jordan henderson in all, liverpool had 21 shots that, however, suggests liverpool were better than they actually were there were some bright spots, such as the performance of emre can at the base of the midfield the german has a superb passing range and it will be a surprise if he doesn’t develop in to a very good player on this occasion, however, the glory was all blackburn’s they may have to be slightly more expansive when it comes to the replay in april but they deserved this draw and will relish 90 minutes against liverpool at ewood park by then gerrard will expect to be back in the thick of it if he wants to get to wembley for his birthday fa cup final, he is going to have to do his bit
liverpool martin skrtel kolo toure the first half second blackburn rovers' ewood park
liverpool's martin skrtel was carried off on a stretcher early on after landing awkwardly . kolo toure had a goal ruled out for offside in the first half and hit the post with a header in the second . blackburn rovers' defence held strong and they will now host liverpool in a replay at ewood park 