Neil Mellor finally ended almost a year of injury frustration by returning for Liverpool reserves in the 2-0 win away at Manchester United last night. The striker, sidelined since January after undergoing surgery on both knees, came off the bench with around 20 minutes to go, and wasted no time making his presence felt.
Within seconds of entering the action, Mellor - who grew up supporting City and has no love for the red half of Manchester - had become involved in a flare up with United defender Gerard Pique. It seems to be a regular occurrence when he faces United, even going back to his academy days.
Minutes after that he showed he's lost none of his old sharpness during his lay off, by producing a great piece of skill and a snapshot from the edge of the box which brought a good save from the United keeper.
Mellor came through the game with no ill effects, although he was very tired. He told TLW afterwards:
"I'm breathing through my arse! I'm a bit sore as well but it's just great to be back playing again."
The game attracted a big crowd due to it being Solskjaer's return to action, and predictably the mancs went through their full repertoire of anti-scouse songs. They droned on and on about hating scousers, about Gary Neville hating scousers, and then they followed it up with chants of.. erm.... Rooney!
17 year old Godwin Antwi - immense at the heart of the defence once again - actually turned around to the crowd at one point and appeared to tell them to shut up. He's a character is the young African, and a real competitor.
Most of the young lads in the Liverpool side won't have previously experienced the kind of abuse they got last night, and one of Mellor's team-mates (who will remain nameless for obvious reasons) remarked afterwards: "The lads are all buzzin' after that. They sang about scousers the whole night, so it was great to shut them up, the boring, horrible so and so's (or words to that effect)".
A full report on the game will be online later today
