In the 225th Merseyside Derby, it was always going to be a promising one as a spectacle - Everton against Liverpool, it doesn't get much better than that.
Goals from Danny Ings and Romelu Lukaku meant the points were shared between the two local rivals, in what was an end-to-end affair at Goodison Park on Sunday afternoon.
Going into their tantalising fixture, Brendan Rodgers was understandably under a lot of pressure. Their 1-1 draw at home to Swiss side FC Sion in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night meant the Reds had only won two of their last eight matches in all competitions - against Carlisle United (on penalties), and Aston Villa in the league shortly afterwards.
In comparison, their noisy neighbours had won both of their two fixtures, with Romelu Lukaku dismantling West Brom on Monday evening. That meant, going into their derby clash, they had a morale-boosting run of results under their belt, whilst Liverpool needed one of their own to quell the pressure.
Reds start Derby quickly
As the game started, it was indeed Liverpool who started brightly. Daniel Sturridge and Martin Skrtel came close to breaking the deadlock, with the former being denied on the second occasion with an important last-ditch sliding challenge by Phil Jagielka from close-range.
Tempers began to flare as Ross Barkley was penalized for a shoulder barge of Philippe Coutinho, sending the Brazilian midfielder down to the turf after a 50-50 challenge, before reacting angrily by kicking the ball away in frustration that he'd even been adjudged to foul the 23-year-old. The referee Martin Atkinson, gave the Englishman the benefit of the doubt, and refrained from showing him the first yellow card of the match.
Martin Skrtel was down and clutching his wrist, after an issue with the strapping on his left hand. The physios came on swiftly, and after some treatment, the Slovakian defender was soon back involved in the day's action.
James Milner could have broken the deadlock, having been set through on-goal after a neatly-placed lofted pass into his path by Coutinho on the right. His resulting effort was thwarted by the quick reactions of Tim Howard though, and the scoreline stayed the same.
Blues force their way with gradual momentum
Then, the momentum shifted. Everton started to assert themselves in the match, and were unlucky not to be two goals ahead after half-an-hour. First, a delightful delivery by Barkley was perfectly-weighted, and met the head of Steven Naismith. His header was angled goalwards, but flew straight into the path of Simon Mignolet - who made an acrobatic save to claw the ball away to safety.
Just two minutes later, the Belgian goalkeeper was forced into making another superb save to keep the scores level. A well-worked move in midfield saw the ball fall into the path of James McCarthy, whose powerful drive was destined to nestle into the bottom corner. Mignolet was quick to dive low, and got a strong hand to the effort.
In a derby, it'd be strange to have little or no tension between the two sides. The volcano erupted in the 33rd minute, from something fairly innocous in truth. Emre Can made a sliding challenge to dispossess Barkley of the ball on the flank, and it was clearly an Everton throw-in. The young German perhaps wanted to give his teammates some time to revert back into their positions defensively, whilst Ross was quick to try and retrieve the ball so they could start a counter.
He tried to take the ball from Can, who evidently wasn't giving it up. Then, Emre shoved Barkley, and the situation blew out of proportion as both sets of players ran over to the scene in an attempt to calm down the quarrel.
Ings fires Liverpool ahead
The deadlock was broken, shortly afterwards. An important sliding tackle by Ramiro Funes Mori saw the ball deflect out of play for a corner-kick, which was poorly defended by the hosts in truth. A lapse in concentration all-round, was capitalized perfectly with a header from close-range by Danny Ings - who wheeled away to celebrate his second goal for Rodgers' men.
...before Lukaku levels the scoring
Their lead was short-lived though, after some calamitous defending on the visitors' part. Everton were pressing for an equaliser before the interval, and got their just reward for their attacking impetus - albeit from some lacklustre defensive play by their local rivals inside the box.
Gerard Deulofeu's teasing ball into the box was partially cleared, but obviously not well enough. A mix-up between Can and Skrtel saw the ball trickle towards Lukaku, who made no mistake with a sweetly-struck effort arrowing into the bottom corner of the net. Having made two excellent saves prior, there was nothing that Mignolet could have done there, in fairness to him.
After the break, neither side made any alterations. The tempo was not as fast-paced, admittedly, but both chances had carved out a few half-chances to test either goalkeeper. The battle between Lukaku and Skrtel was a fascinating one to look at, especially given Lukaku's physique and Skrtel's method of robust defending meaning they'd clash on more than one occasion. Over the past eighteen months, Romelu has gradually learned to utilise his body as a shield to hold the ball up, and it helps to bring other teammates into the game in specific situations. He continued to do that again today, and was hard to mark for Liverpool in truth.
End-to-end affair in the second 45
The first substitution of the match came on the hour mark. Aaron Lennon was introduced into the fray, in place of Deulofeu - who hadn't seen enough of the ball in the wide areas to create much of note, apart from the build-up to Lukaku's equaliser of course.
Lucas Leiva and James McCarthy were both shown bookings in quick succession for needless fouls, as tackles started flying in with tired legs coming into the equation as the match wore on. Lukaku came close to completing his brace, but for another smart stop by Mignolet at his near post; before the Everton supporters appealed for a penalty-kick in unison as Romelu was brought down by a hefty-looking challenge by Mamadou Sakho. Replays showed that although it was a risky move by the former Paris Saint-Germain centre-back, he'd won the ball before Lukaku fell to ground in the box.
Danny Ings was given a warm reception by the Reds supporters in the ground as he was brought off with fifteen minutes to play, as Adam Lallana - fresh from scoring their only goal during midweek - replaced him.
Time continued to tick down, and despite a wave of attacks from Liverpool towards Howard's goal, Everton defended admirably in the face of adversity to hold firm and win a hard-fought point at home. An altercation between Lukaku and Sakho in stoppage time was another flash-point in what was a feisty game, but both players were booked and nothing more was made of the situation.
As a result, Everton leapfrog Arsenal into sixth place - whilst Liverpool themselves miss the opportunity to usurp their rivals into the same position. The pressure is still on Brendan Rodgers, but neither side deserved to lose this one.