ACCORDING to the philosophy of Roy Evans, perfection is an unobtainable state and happiness is an emotion of which a manager should be wary. There is always a way to improve a side, he believes, and anyone who is pleased with his team should be thinking of leaving the club.

With that in mind it was no surprise that Evans was more concerned with Liverpool's tendency to take their foot off the accelerator once ahead than he was content with the fact they had moved to second place in the Premiership by restricting Leeds to a negligible number of chances despite all their pressure.

"We sat at the back and I would have liked us to have pushed a bit further forward. We let them knock too many balls into the area and on another day that will cause us trouble," he said.

It was a fault which could prove the undoing of Liverpool against opposition with more attacking power than the willing head of Deane and the desperation of a slowing Rush.

As it was Liverpool had the game won in the 13th minute when Fowler's header was cleared off the line by Palmer only for Ruddock to score with the help of a deflection. It was the sort of simple effort which would have had the Leeds manager, George Graham, feeling nostalgic for the solid reliability of his old Arsenal defenders.

From then on Liverpool went in to their shell while Leeds had to replace Wallace who had a thigh strain with another anonymous midfield player, Jackson. For all intents and purposes it appeared as if both sides had settled for a 0-1, result; Leeds as a damage limitation exercise and Liverpool for the sake of expediency.

In the second half Leeds did bring Rush into a central striking position from the wastelands of the right wing and played with a little bit more purpose but to little more effect. Rush who was desperate to score his first goal for his new club against the team with whom he made his name volleyed one chance over the bar which led to unkind thoughts but that was a sort of chance he would have buried in his prime. Otherwise Rush's main contribution was to get himself booked for a spot of pushing and shoving after he claimed Wright had handled in the area.

However, for all of Leeds's efforts the main chances fell to Liverpool when they made the effort to cross the half way line. Fowler and McManaman enjoyed each other's flicks and passes without ever giving the impression they were doing any more than enjoying a kickaround with nothing at stake. The second goal was in keeping with that feeling. In the last minutes the Leeds goal keeper Martin raced 39 yards upfield only to slice his kick into the path of McManaman who was left with a simple run towards goal and a tap into the net.