ALL EYES at Anfield were on England rivals Michael Owen and Kevin Phillips, who both duly demonstrated their goal-scoring credentials.

But it was Sunderland goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen who stole the show with a superb point-winning performance, capped by a breath-taking first-half double save which had 44,713 fans gasping in disbelief.

Brilliant French midfielder Bernard Diomede thought he had put Liverpool ahead two minutes before half-time with a perfectly executed overhead scissors kick.

But somehow the giant Dane managed to parry the shot with his left hand then spectacularly pushed the ball away to safety with his right, cutting short the £3m winger's celebrations.

Sorensen went on to silence the Kop with a thrilling one-handed save to deny Owen a match-winner ten minutes from time after an earlier important stop against the brilliant 20-year-old.

Sunderland lost three of the four games missed by Sorensen through injury earlier in the season, but he has been back to top form on his return.

In the managers' Press conference afterwards one enthusiastic observer compared Sorensen's brilliant save with Jimmy Montgomery's incredible double-stop in the 1973 FA Cup final victory over Leeds United.

Peter Reid replied: "I know it was a great save by Thomas but Jimmy Montgomery's was one of the best reaction saves I have ever seen."

He added: "Thomas is a top-class goalkeeper - he has great stature and he is very, very quick. I thought he was excellent."

Sorensen had absolutely no chance with Owen's 34th minute equaliser, a powerful header from six yards which struck the underside of the bar with great power from a Ziege free kick, but he always looked to be in control as Sunderland battled hard in a game Reid thought they might have won.

He said: "When you come to Anfield you are always delighted to get anything.

"But afterwards there was a sense of disappointment in our dressing room - our players thought they possibly should have had the three points.

"We have been poor away from home and that's the best we have played and that performance has started our season away from home. I'm delighted."

Phillips knew he went into the match to be compared with Owen, and the Sunderland man drew first blood with an effective long-range strike which caught goalkeeper Sander Westerveld by surprise in the 15th minute.

A long clearance was picked up by the little striker, who looked as though he would try to get much nearer goal before pressing the trigger. But he smacked in a low right foot shot from almost 25 yards and it evaded the despairing efforts of the keeper to push it away.

Phillips, looking much sharper, only had one other chance, firing wide from 15 yards after a knock-down by strike-partner Niall Quinn. Phillips returned the compliment five minutes from time, but the Republic of Ireland international was off-balance as he fired his right-footer straight at the keeper.

Phillips surprised onlookers with a couple of moments of uncharacteristic indiscipline which could well have earned him his marching orders.

Booked by referee Mike Riley for a foul he then lifted his foot to impede goalkeeper Westerveld as he tried to clear, and later bounced the ball away petulantly as he disputed a throw-in decision, earning a stern lecture rather than a second yellow card.

The Sunderland fans were delighted with the upturn in Sunderland's away performance and were given plenty to shout about for a change.

Reid's men battled for every ball and with Don Hutchison and Darren Williams tackling quickly and effectively in midfield Liverpool were forced to revert to a long-ball game which did not please their manager, Gerard Houllier.

The main threat came from £3m signing Diomede, who caused many problems on the left before being substituted to make way for Robbie Fowler, but Liverpool never really got their game going with any great degree of skilful approach work.

Owen, however, was always a live-wire up front and both Sunderland central defenders, Jody Craddock and Emerson Thome, had their work cut out to keep tabs on the first-choice England striker.

When he did manage to shake off their attentions he found Sorensen at his best and was unable to beat him a second time