Football - Liverpool FC: Merseyside derby win can be the turning point of our season says Liverpool FC’s Glen Johnson

Dec 1 2009 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

Football - Liverpool FC: GLEN JOHNSON is adamant Liverpool earned their derby day luck – but accepts they now have to make the most of it.

Despite being outplayed for much of the game, Rafael Benitez’s side earned a 2-0 victory in the 212th Merseyside derby at Goodison on Sunday.

It was the Anfield outfit’s first Premier League triumph in more than a month and moved them up to fifth place, two points off the Champions League qualification places.

What had been a run of two wins in 12 has now become a five-game unbeaten run ahead of another demanding away game at Blackburn Rovers this coming Saturday.

And while admitting their fortune was in with Javier Mascherano’s deflected opener at Goodison, Johnson acknowledges it will count for nothing if Liverpool fail to capitalise on a morale-boosting victory.

“The derby win might end up being the turning point of our season, I don’t see why not,” said Johnson. “We have a platform to build upon.

“You maybe can’t read all that much into just one goal, but with the first goal against Everton, it’s the first time we’ve had a little bit of luck in a while.

“The lads are working as hard as they can all week, so maybe they deserve that luck. Now it’s up to us to make the most of it.”

Johnson was part of a defence that kept a successive clean sheet for the first time this season, with Liverpool having won 1-0 against Debrecen in the Champions League last week.

And he said: “We’ve got two clean sheets in a row so hopefully we can push on now.

“We know that we haven’t been picking up the results that people associated with this club expect but there is no better place to start picking up points than Goodison.

“We want to get on a good run now. The next game is all that we can worry about but we want to be pushing up the table and hopefully this will be the start.”

Johnson was among seven derby debutants at the weekend, with team-mates Emiliano Insua and David Ngog and Everton quartet Sylvain Distin, Lucas Neill, John Heitinga and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov the others.

“It was fantastic to play in my first derby and the result was even better; it’s great to get off to a winning start,” said the right-back. “We knew they were going to come at us at 100 miles an hour.

“It’s a great atmosphere when you come to Goodison for a game like this. Obviously they hate us, so that makes it even better when we beat them.

“It’s up there with the biggest games I have played in. It’s arguably the biggest derby in the Premier League and it’s great to beat them.”

Johnson also believes goalkeeper Pepe Reina’s remarkable double stop to deny Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini could prove a turning point in Liverpool’s season.

“That save was amazing,” said the England international. “With it being 1-0 at the time, if either Cahill or Fellaini had scored, it could have been a different story.

“Pepe is one of the best in the business, there’s no disputing that. He’s a Spanish international on merit and deserves (recognition) every time that he plays.

“He’s certainly one of the best that I have ever played with. He’s got so much to his game, he’s really good with his feet and you can see him in training.

“That’s what the modern goalkeeper needs. He’s quick and agile and makes great saves like that; it was a turning point in the game and it could be a turning point in the season.”