FT: G'DONG SUNRAY CAVE 3-4 LIVERPOOL

DATE: Wednesday 13 July 2011
KICK OFF: 13:00
VENUE: Tianhe Stadium, Guangzhou
COMPETITION: Friendly
REFEREE: Unknown
BROADCAST: LFC TV, ESPN

Liverpool got off to a winning start in their preparation for the 2011/12 season after overcoming Guangdong Sunray Cave 4-3 in their first match of their tour of the Far East.

New signing Charlie Adam was a substitute, as was the returning Alberto Aquilani, and both players impressed when they entered the fray.

The Reds opened the scoring after 19 minutes when Joe Cole's cross from the right found Christian Poulsen who side-footed in on the volley. Three minutes later, it was 2-0 as Jonjo Shelvey slid through a perfect through-ball to David Ngog, who slotted it home.

But Guangdong got a goal back in added time at the end of the first half, as Ricardo Steer powered a header past Peter Gulacsi.

There were wholesale changes at the break as Kenny Dalglish sent out an entirely different team, including new signing Adam and Aquilani, as well as youngsters Andre Wisdom, Jack Robinson and Conor Coady, and it was the latter who scored Liverpool's third after 72 minutes.

Coady received the ball from fellow substitute Andy Carroll before taking it into the box and powering it into the net. Carroll himself seemed to have wrapped it up with five minutes to go as he slotted it in from close range following a good one-two with Maxi Rodriguez.

But Guangdong were not finished. Lu Lin pulled one back in the last minute of normal time when he received a cross at the back post and curled it beyond Martin Hansen. And a minute later, Yin Hongbo pulled yet another goal back after seeing off the challenge of Daniel Agger and slotting it in.

But the Reds held on to record a win in their first pre-season friendly, and their next match is against a Malaysia XI on Saturday morning.


LIVE SCOREBOARD

GUANGDONG SUNRAY CAVE - 3
Steer 45+1'
Lu Lin 90'
Hongbo 90+1'

LIVERPOOL - 4
Poulsen 19'
Ngog 22'
Coady 72'
Carroll 85'


TEAMS

GUANGDONG SUNRAY CAVE
Yongzhe (Hou Yu 57')
Li Zhihai
Zhu Cong (Shi Liang 66')
Ge Zhen
Dia Kite
Li Jian (Liu Sheng 69')
Lu Lin
Song Chao
Hongbo
Steer (Yu Jianfeng 83')
Awal (Binliang 57')

SUBS: Li Weijun, Hou Yu, Liu Sheng, Long, Pan Jia, Shi Liang, Binliang, Yu Jianfeng, Liu Xi, Peihao, Zuqing.

LIVERPOOL
Gulacsi (Jones 46') (Hansen 71')
Kelly (Wisdom 46')
Carragher (Agger 46')
Wilson (Kyrgiakos 46')
Flanagan (Robinson 46')
Cole (Kuyt 46')
Poulsen (Aquilani 46')
Spearing (Adam 46')
Shelvey (Coady 46')
Pacheco (Rodriguez 46')
Ngog (Carroll 46')

SUBS: Jones, Hansen, Agger, Carroll, Rodriguez, Kyrgiakos, Kuyt, Adam, Coady, Wisdom, Robinson, Aquilani.


LAST MATCHES

GUANGDONG SUNRAY CAVE
Saturday 9 July 2011
China League One
Guizhou Toro 0-3 Guangdong Sunray Cave

LIVERPOOL
Sunday 22 May 2011
Barclays Premier League
Aston Villa 1-0 Liverpool

HEAD TO HEAD
N/A