Youri Djorkaeff boarded the Bolton team coach clutching Michael Owen's number 10 shirt as a muddied souvenir of a miserable day while victorious Liverpool players, their flashy sports cars weaving through the autograph hunters, departed in dribs and drabs. All that remained was a lingering sense of deflation.
Contrasting realities bite deep this morning. Liverpool, never more than efficient on Saturday, awake with the League Cup already in the bag, three points to make up for Champions League qualification and a UEFA Cup quarter-final to come.
Yet they never performed as they had against Manchester United in Cardiff and, for those traipsing off the Kop, this was too cold and clinical a victory to savour.
His side may have won but Gerard Houllier cannot win. Lambasted while Liverpool's season threatened to disintegrate, he can hardly rest easy now that his side has regained some of its calculated, unflustered efficiency of old. However, it was a pity that a first Premiership success in this arena since early November could not have been earned with a hint of panache or a pinch of flair. Had Liverpool boasted the clever incision of Jay-Jay Okocha or the flicks and tricks of Djorkaeff, together with the bite down the right provided by Bernard Mendy, they could have run up a cricket score.
Bolton boast fluidity and creativity in their attacking intent but their forward line is so pitifully gummy that relegation rather than relief now looms large. They had only one shot on target here, and that a miscued cross from Mendy.
Sunderland's Howard Wilkinson was in the stands, though his side - with only 19 league goals all season - will not have the likes of Michael Owen and El Hadji Diouf to punish Bolton next Saturday. The England striker's wriggling run and chipped shot was nodded in by Diouf on the goalline just before the break. Diouf embarrassed Simon Charlton midway through the second half for Owen to tap in his fourth in four games.
LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Carragher, Traore, Hyypia, Riise, Gerrard (Diao 72), Hamann, Murphy, Diouf, Owen, Smicer (Cheyrou 57). Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Baros, Biscan. Goals: Diouf 44, Owen 67.
BOLTON: Jaaskelainen, N'Gotty, Bergsson, Laville, Charlton, Mendy (Andre 61), Campo, Okocha, Gardner, Salva (Nolan 70), Djorkaeff. Subs Not Used: Frandsen, Barness, Poole. Booked: Campo, Salva, Laville.
Referee: G Barber (Hertfordshire)
