Wembley win sends Liverpool heading in right direction.
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Liverpool cemented their position as the most successful club in the history of the League Cup yesterday with an eighth triumph in the competition.
As has become the norm for cup finals involving the Reds, it wasn't as straightforward as it might have been and required the lottery of penalties to decide the eventual outcome.
That in itself was the fourth time since the turn of the century that Liverpool have won a trophy on penalties, and the second shoot-out win in the final of League Cup following the win over Birmingham – also from a division at the time – in 2001.
The law of averages suggest that Liverpool are overdue a loss in a shoot-out, and they could be said to have pushed their luck to its limit at Wembley yesterday after missing with their first two kicks.
That Liverpool managed to net their next three to claim the trophy was quite a feat given their recent record from 12 yards with Luis Suarez, twice, Andy Carroll, Dirk Kuyt and Charlie Adam having all failed from spot kicks already this season.
How his team secured the win will be of secondary importance to manager Kenny Dalglish, who collected the one domestic trophy missing from his managerial collection.
It was a fully deserved reward for an approach to the competition that has seen Liverpool go all out in search for silverware, facing challenging ties at Stoke and Chelsea during the way, as well as having to overcome the might of Manchester City in a tense semi final.
The current side may be further off the pace of the country's leading clubs than Gerard Houllier's team of 2001 were when they lifted the League Cup to earn Liverpool a first piece of silverware for six years.
But there's nothing stopping Dalglish and his team from building on the win and achieving further success this season, from which the club can then look to build on in the summer.