With five of their senior defenders absent, as well as Paolo Di Canio, West Ham might have been expected to blow away like the brittle autumn leaves which swirled around the streets outside Anfield last night.

They lost, right enough, and their defence was certainly absent without leave when Titi Camara scored the winning goal just before half-time, but Liverpool were never dominant.

It might be argued that as a collective unit West Ham have a resilience which has often been lacking in the past, although the narrowness of the scoreline said more about Liverpool's problems than West ham's virtues.

True, Liverpool believed they had scored a second goal when Camara delicately chipped Shaka Hislop, but the assistant referee had already adjudged that the striker's shaking-off of Rio Ferdinand had been illegal. Hislop denied Patrik Berger with a fine save but prior to this, and only minutes into the second half, Frank Lampard had a shot cleared by Rigobert Song with Sander Westerveld beaten.

Liverpool, with Erik Meijer and Camara forming a somewhat uneasy alliance in attack in the absence of the injured Michael Owen, were initially comfortably held by Ferdinand and Neil Ruddock and it needed David Thompson to liven up a generally quiet Anfield when he thumped in a fierce shot which Hislop deflected for a corner.

In the end Liverpool's slightly greater persistence was rewarded a couple of minutes before halftime. Thompson and Song worked the ball along the right, and when Song crossed there was a horrible absence of West Ham defenders allowing Camara to score.

Liverpool: Westerveld, Song, Henchoz, Hyypia, Matteo, Carragher, Redknapp, Berger, Thompson (Heggem 73), Camara (Smicer 78), Meijer. Subs Not Used: Murphy, Nielsen, Gerrard. Booked: Carragher. Goals: Camara 43.

West Ham: Hislop, Potts, Ruddock, Keller, Ferdinand, Sinclair, Kitson, Lomas, Lampard, Wanchope, Cole. Subs Not Used: Foe, Moncur, Forrest, Margas, Newton. Booked: Keller.

Referee: S Lodge (Barnsley).