Liverpool stole the advantage going into the second-leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final with Stoke City as Jordon Ibe's first-half effort gave them a slender 1-0 win in the first-leg on Tuesday night.
The Reds started superbly at the Britannia Stadium but their impetus was damaged by injuries to Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren, which forced Jürgen Klopp into early changes.
But it was substitute Jordon Ibe who opened the scoring off the bench after controlling well and drilling past Jack Butland from six-yards out in the 37th minute.
Despite trying to build upon their lead, with Ibe and the bright Roberto Firmino wasting the best of their chances in either half, they were forced to soak up pressure from Stoke to see out their lead going into the second-leg at Anfield later this month and put one foot into the final at Wembley Stadium next month.
Visitors the better team early on as changed front three combine well
Liverpool manager Klopp made three changes for the visitors - Kolo Touré coming in for the injured Mamadou Sakho in the heart of defence whilst Joe Allen replaced Jordon Ibe and Christian Benteke was dropped in favour of Roberto Firmino starting up-front.
Those tactical changes certainly made their mark early on as the Reds started brightly and camped the home side into their own half. The front-three of Firmino, Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho saw Liverpool look more fluid and coherent in the final third - with Firmino laying down the gauntlet with a testing shot inside 40 seconds.
Stoke's back-line found it difficult to deal with their movement as they danced through their numbers in defence and looked to create openings. As a result of their link-up play, Butland was forced to deny Lallana with a strong right-handed stop after being encouraged into a 25-yard drive from range by Firmino's lay-off.
But on their whole, for all of their excellent build-up play, their final ball was often found lacking as they lacked the presence of a real finisher. Their growing momentum was dealt a massive blow when Coutinho sustained a hamstring injury and was forced off, being replaced by wideman Jordon Ibe.
That meant a lull in proceedings as they came to grips with a slightly new system, Ibe staying wide as opposed to coming close to Firmino and Lallana and exchanging possession with them.
As a consequence, it wasn't long before Stoke began to grow into the game a bit more - though Bojan couldn't make the most of a rolled ball across the floor from a corner, fluffing his lines despite little pressure, before Glen Johnson's shot from the edge of the box flew well over Simon Mignolet's crossbar.
Liverpool overcome injury disappointments to find the breakthrough
The Reds continued to keep their forward momentum, though struggled to really take advantage as Ibe put his shot straight at Butland after the ball fell fortuitously for him inside the box.
But they were dealt another devastating injury blow just past the half-hour when in-form defender Dejan Lovren also picked up a hamstring injury, forcing Klopp into a second substitution - bringing on James Milner in midfield and being forced to drop Lucas Leiva in at centre-back with no centre halves in reserve.
Despite the two setbacks in quick succession, Liverpool bounced back well and finally broke the deadlock after 36 minutes. Substitute Milner found Lallana in space down the right and he looked to find Joe Allen inside the area. Though the Welshman miscued his shot, the ball fell perfectly for Ibe, who brought the ball under control before firing a powerful left-footed effort into the far corner to send the away end into euphoria.
The Reds were perhaps fortunate to stay level just a minute later as Stoke stormed down the other end and Johnson, who joined the Potters after leaving Liverpool on a free in the summer, sent a delightful ball into Marko Arnautovic inside the box but he could only head wide of the far post.
Ibe almost doubled the away side's advantage after 41 minutes, again from another Lallana cross down the left. After choosing against a first-time cross, Lallana made space for himself before clipping a cross over to Ibe at the far post. After getting it out of his feet, the winger looked to bend a shot into the top right corner but got his execution all wrong and hit it high and wide.
And Stoke almost equalised at the perfect time as they won a corner three minutes into first-half stoppage-time, with Lucas Leiva forced to clear Bojan's cross off the line with a header before Mignolet got down well to Johnson's stabbed effort goalwards.
Stoke much better after the break as Liverpool forced to defend deep
The hosts were obviously given a stern half-time team talk from manager Mark Hughes as they came flying out of the blocks after the break, with the Welshman having brought on Jonathan Walters for Geoff Cameron, with Ibrahim Afellay dropping into central midfield.
That gave them an extra attacking impetus which brought the enthusiastic home crowd into the game, though that could have been killed within two minutes after Firmino latched on to a good through ball into the inside left channel. But with the goal begging for the Brailian, he attempted to square for his teammates and scuffed the pass - allowing Johnson to thump clear.
In an attempt to pile the pressure on the visitors, Stoke looked to put enticing crosses into the box - though Liverpool did well to keep them at the bay until the hour mark, with their centre-backs asked to head clear every minute or so. Even Lucas, naturally a defensive midfielder, was called into action as he clattered into Bojan to deny him a shooting opportunity on the edge of the area.
The hosts continued to impress as Arnautovic looked to pick out the run of Shaqiri with a sublime ball in behind from midfield, but Mignolet was spritely to come off his line and win the ball ahead of the Swiss forward.
They continued to search for a goal to bring them level as they increased the pressure on Liverpool, but Klopp's charges retained a threat themselves on the counter-attack as Firmino twice went close from 20-yards near the hour, firing high on the first asking before putting his second attempt a few minutes later wide of Butland's near post.
Their second of the evening almost came from Milner's left-sided free-kick on 64 minutes. Though his initial delivery was disappointing and failed to beat the first man, it dropped for Allen in space and he was brought down by Glenn Whelan - though referee Anthony Taylor waved play on.
Still, the Reds kept possession in the danger area and Milner picked up the scraps, shooting towards the far bottom corner before the ball was a hacked away by a defender on the line before Lallana struggled to find an opening for a second shot with an abundance of bodies in the area.
Reds see out nervy finale to take one-goal lead into second-leg
With Stoke so desperate to find a route back into the encounter, Klopp's side remained diligent at the back and looked to pick off their opponents on the counter-attack. They almost did just that when Ibe and Firmino's slick one-two led to the former driving inside the area, but after switching to his right he could only find the side-netting from an angle.
On the contrary, Stoke looked equally as capable of bringing the game's second goal - Ryan Shawcross heading over from 12-yards after breaking forward and meeting Walters' chipped cross. Desperate for a goal, Hughes chose to take off Bojan and add a focal point upfront in the form of Joselu.
With time closing down, Mignolet went into the referee's book for time-wasting before Klopp chose to bring on Christian Benteke for Allen to try and steal a valuable second goal - but instead they were forced deeper as a result of Stoke's pressure.
After playing themselves into trouble through Ibe in his own half, Toure was forced to come across and block Shaqiri's dangerous cross for a corner as they did well to prevent their supply line - whilst Mignolet was also required to tip Joselu's deflected strike over his bar.
Hughes' final roll of the dice came in the form of introducing former Liverpool striker Peter Crouch up top but the Reds continued to dig deep and ground out the win to preserve a first-leg advantage as they produced a welcome response to the weekend's loss at West Ham United.