The abiding image of the afternoon was the sight of Kolo Touré holding his head in his hands in despair. Leading through Daniel Sturridge's 18th goal of the season, Liverpool threw away what could prove to be two costly points after a moment of madness from Touré and, to rub salt into the wound, the man who punished the Ivorian was a former Everton striker who had been on the pitch for little more than three minutes.  Victor Anichebe's second goal for West Bromwich Albion, since arriving from Goodison Park in a £6m deal on deadline day in September, pegged back Liverpool and earned the home team a precious point that they arguably deserved after a much improved second-half performance.  Brendan Rodgers did his best to put on a brave face afterwards. The Liverpool manager mentioned that his side had picked up four points against a club who did the double over them last season and, referring to Touré's faux pas, said: "When you make an error, some teams can go under and you can end up losing that game 2-1."  It was hard to view this as anything other than a missed opportunity for Liverpool, especially on the back of Manchester United losing and Tottenham Hotspur drawing 24 hours earlier. Liverpool remain fourth, two points ahead of Everton and three in front of Spurs, but a chance to put a little daylight between themselves and the chasing pack was passed up.  On a lifeless pitch, which both managers complained about Liverpool looked flat, struggled to play with fluency and threatened only sporadically. That said, the visitors had a wonderful chance to go 2-0 up in the second half and, possibly, put the game beyond Albion. Luis Suárez, of all people, was the man who failed to show a clinical touch in front of goal when it was needed. The striker, who had set up Sturridge's goal with a superb cross, was guilty of shooting too close to Ben Foster when one on one with the keeper just before the hour.  It was a reprieve for Albion and one that they took full advantage of eight minutes later when Touré attempted a square pass to Martin Skrtel on the edge of his own penalty area. Rodgers implied that Simon Mignolet should never have rolled the ball to Touré in the first place but, irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the Liverpool goalkeeper's distribution, it was a suicidal pass for Touré to try to make.  Anichebe, who had replaced Saido Berahino 199 seconds earlier and was afforded the traditional welcome that former Everton players get from Liverpool fans, read Touré's intentions and, after taking a touch, drilled a low shot from 18 yards beyond Mignolet and into the corner of the net. Touré looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up.  Pepe Mel, Albion's head coach, viewed the goal as reward for the pressing game that he has been keen to introduce since arriving at the club but which he felt his players had failed to implement during a first half when Steven Gerrard, who was once again deployed in a deep-lying role, had too much time on the ball. "It was high press, [Matej] Vydra and [Zoltan]Gera together, then a bad pass," said Mel, whose side are one point clear of the relegation zone.  The game was not much of spectacle, in particular during an opening 45 minutes in which Sturridge's goal was the only shot on target. The goal was simple in its execution but beautifully created by Suárez.  Philippe Coutinho's measured pass invited the lively Raheem Sterling to escape on the Liverpool right. Suárez picked up possession inside the area and clipped a left-footed cross towards the back post where Sturridge could not miss from two yards.  Toothless in the first half, Albion came close to equalising within eight minutes of the restart, when Mignolet produced a superb one-handed save to keep out Gareth McAuley's header. Then came Suárez's golden opportunity, after Touré's long ball exposed the limitations of Diego Lugano, who was dropped following his dismal display against Aston Villa on Wednesday but introduced as an early substitute here after an injury to Jonas Olsson.  Suárez shrugged his Uruguay team-mate aside, sidestepped the challenge of McAuley but saw his right-foot shot, from inside the area, repelled by Foster's left boot. "I think everyone in the ground thought 'this is a goal' but Ben Foster's a brilliant shot-stopper and he made a good save there," Rodgers said.  Anichebe was nothing like as generous when Touré presented him with the sort of chance any centre-forward dreams about. "It was a gift," Foster said. "How on earth he has failed to see the biggest guy in the world standing in the middle of the 18-yard box, I'll never know."  Man of the match Youssouf Mulumbu (West Bromwich Albion)
Kolo Touré, the Liverpool defender, rolled the ball to Victor Anichebe who gratefully fired home West Brom's equaliser