BLACKBURN Rovers pushed Liverpool all the way before falling to a narrow defeat in the Premier League this afternoon.

Keith Andrews' penalty had put Rovers back on level terms five minutes before half time, cancelling out Steven Gerrard's 20th-minute opener, but Fernando Torres struck just before the interval for what proved to be the winner.

Chris Samba's header from an El-Hadji Diouf corner forced an early save out of Pepe Reina and Morten Gamst Pedersen brought the Liverpool keeper back into the action with a fierce right-foot volley.

A surging run from Pedersen then set up Nikola Kalinic, who curled just wide as Rovers had the better of the opening exchanges.

But Liverpool went ahead as Yossi Benayoun found Gerrard and the midfielder surged past Samba before clipping the ball over Paul Robinson with his left foot.

Rovers came close to an equaliser when Pedersen met Samba's cross with a stinging volley that Reina had to save before regaining his feet to keep out another decent effort from the Norwegian from the rebound.

But Rovers levelled as Pedersen attempted to play a one-two with Kalinic but Carragher slid in to intercept only to handle the ball as he lay flat on his back in the penalty area. Andrews stepped up and found the bottom left-hand corner.

A minute before half time, though, Liverpool were back in front as Samba initially halted a break from Fernando Torres but the Spaniard scored from close range as seconds afterwards Maxi Rodriguez found him with a low cross.

After the interval Daniel Agger headed wide before Robinson had to make a decent save as Maxi's cross appeared to be drifting into the far corner.

Rovers pushed for a leveller, though, and Junior Hoilett might have done better when Reina saved his angled shot after being played in by El-Hadji Diouf, while Kalinic saw his effort from a Pedersen cross blocked by the keeper.

Substitute Vince Grella then volleyed just wide and Reina had to make a fine save to deny Samba's header from Pedersen's free kick.

But Rovers could not quite get the goal that would have given them a deserved point.

Rovers: Paul Robinson; Michel Salgado, Chris Samba, Gael Givet, Martin Olsson (Pascal Chimbonda 51); Keith Andrews, Steven Nzonzi (Vince Grella 60), Morten Gamst Pedersen; El-Hadji Diouf, Nikola Kalinic, Junior Hoilett (Jason Roberts 64). Subs not used: Jason Brown, Brett Emerton, David Dunn, Franco Di Santo.

Liverpool: Pepe Reina; Javier Mascherano, Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio (Emiliano Insua 39); Maxi Rodriguez, Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva, Yossi Benayoun (Ryan Babel 81); Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres (David Ngog 90). Subs not used: Diego Cavalieri, Martin Kelly, Daniel Ayala, Alberto Aquilani.

Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).

Attendance: 42,795.