Alun Armstrong finally opened up a tightly locked Liverpool defence to restore Ipswich to third place after a goal from Emile Heskey seconds after half-time had promised revenge for the Suffolk team's win at Anfield in December.
Until the last 20 minutes Ipswich did not raise the tempo of their game sufficiently to cause Liverpool more than passing concern. But with only 13 minutes remaining Marcus Stewart set up Chris Makin for a centre from the left which cleared the defence and found Armstrong running in at the far post to slip the ball past Sander Westerveld.
With Leeds to come on Good Friday, Houllier made six changes to the side which had beaten Wycombe in Sunday's FA Cup semi-finals.
Last night, then, Liverpool went into their watchful mode. With both Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler left on the bench, Houllier employed Heskey alone up front with Patrik Berger most likely to lend him support.
This is a familiar pattern for Houllier when facing opposition with any sort of attacking pedigree. If Liverpool were going to win much depended on Stephen Gerrard getting forward from midfield to make things happen. Similarly Ipswich, often faced with an eight or even nine-man defence, looked to Hermann Hreidarsson's capacity for starting attacks from left-back.
The naturally fluent passing of both teams struggled to find space in which to breathe. Last night goals were more likely to be snatched from set-pieces than arrive through masterful creative movements. Or the sort of smart improvisation which midway through the first half saw Titus Bramble drive across hard from the left, giving Stewart a glimpse of a chance. But the pace of the centre defeated him.
Within a minute an aberrant pass back by John McGreal, under pressure from Heskey, left Christian Ziege with only Richard Wright to beat. Portman Road hearts almost stopped but the German wingback wastefully shot wide.
Jermaine Wright did better for Ipswich just before the halfhour. A long throw-in from Martijn Reuser was cleared beyond the area and Wright delivered a well-struck 30-yard drive which Westerveld did well to keep out.
Until the midfielders established regular contact with the front runners (or runner in Liverpool's case) a stalemate looked inevitable. For a long time neither Matt Holland nor Jim Magilton were able to link effectively with Stewart while too often Gerrard and Berger were content to feed long passes towards Heskey and hope he would outpace the Ipswich defence.
After barely 20 seconds of the second half, this is exactly what happened. Makin, Ipswich's right-back, unwisely ducked under a header forward from Ziege and Heskey's acceleration did the rest. With Makin in vain pursuit the burly striker surged into the area before scoring through the legs of Richard Wright.
Predictably, Burley added the extra power in the air of James Scowcroft to his attack with nearly an hour gone. Ipswich needed something stronger to complement Stewart's subtlety if the authority in defence of Markus Babbel and Sami Hyypia was to be seriously challenged.
On the hour Heskey almost scored again, gathering a cross-field pass from Danny Murphy and drawing a stretching save from Richard Wright, who touched the ball wide. Paradoxically, having taken the lead, Liverpool were now more positive than before.
Burley continued to shuffle his side around, seeking fresh avenues of approach. Bramble gave way to Fabian Wilnis, a strong attacker on the right. It was from this area that Ipswich had an excellent chance to equalise in the 65th minute.
Magilton provided a deep centre to the far post where Scowcroft was unmarked and waiting. A short, sharp header would have surely have seen a goal, but he opted to head across and Stewart was not close enough to get a touch.
Ipswich: R Wright, Makin, McGreal, Bramble (Wilnis 62), Hreidarsson, Reuser, J Wright (Scowcroft 58), Holland, Stewart, Armstrong, Magilton. Subs Not Used: Branagan, Clapham, Burchill. Goals: Armstrong 77.
Liverpool: Westerveld, Babbel, Hyypia, Carragher, Ziege (Hamann 73), Biscan (McAllister 81), Vignal, Gerrard, Berger, Heskey, Murphy. Subs Not Used: Fowler, Owen, Arphexad. Goals: Heskey 46. Referee: S Dunn (Bristol).
