London, Dec 30: It was heartbreak for Liverpool at Afield as they went down 1-0 to Wolverhampton in their English Premier League clash at Afield, their home ground. Steven Ward shot the lone goal lifted his side off the bottom of the chart and relegated Liverpool to the bottom half of the table for the first time in EPL history.

The Liverpool Reds went into the encounter having never lost o the Wolves and with captain Steven Garrard making a return to the side, they looked like favorites to win. However, Liverpool looked lackluster side in the first 45 minutes.

The home side, however had created the best chance of the half in the seventh minute. Fernando Torres took a free-kick quickly in the middle of the Wolves" half which put Raul Meireles clean through on Wayne Hennessey"s goal. George Elokobi"s desperate attempt to cut the pass out only helped set up a goal-kick for Meireles, but the 'keeper did well to block his strike and the rebound was cleared by Richard Stearman.

Liverpool's David Ngog tried a couple of shots in the last few minutes of the half, one was straight at Hennessey, and the other blocked by Stearman.

Liverpool were expected attack in the the second half, but apart from a Ngog chance which he poked wide from a Glen Johnson cut-back, it was the Wolves that looked stronger.

Liverpool"s lack of confidence was summed up by Pepe Reina, who accidentally passed the ball straight to Sylvain Ebanks-Blake just outside his D. This eventually led to a Ronald Zubar attempt that was comfortably saved by Reina.

Anfield was stunned into silence a few moments later as the Wolves went 1-0 up, courtesy a brilliant goal from Steven Ward. A poor Kyrgiakos clearing header was met by Ebanks-Blake who played a perfectly waited ball straight through the middle of the Greek and his central defensive partner Martin Skrtel. Ward dashed onto it and shot the goal.

Liverpool failed to respond aggressively enough and it was the Wolves who had the next good chance as terrible defending from Meireles and Kyrgiakos saw the ball break to Kevin Foley in the D, but Glen Johnson made an excellent block to deny the Wolves captain.

The Wolves continued with their impressive passing game and still weren"t afraid to attack. The home side couldn"t create any kind of clear-cut opportunity thanks to Mick McCarthy's well organized defense.

Liverpool didn"t look to be showing any urgency to try and win the game despite being at home and a goal down to the team at the bottom of the table, they looked bereft of intent and passion.

But when Liverpool found the breakthrough, it was cut out. A Gerrard free-kick from the left was met by Martin Skrtel, but the Wolves employed their spectacular offside trap which caused an off-side ruling.

A few minutes later, the final whistle went off and Liverpool slumped in despair as they had lost the match.

OneIndia