And Owen admitted: ‘‘It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen a shot hit so hard and so accurately. That alone was worthy of winning any game. It was a fantastic start.’’

Despite Liverpool’s dominance Owen insisted his side could never put on the brakes, particularly after David Beckham’s strike had temporarily reduced the arrears to just a single goal.

‘‘Even if you’re three or four up you can never sit pretty unless there’s two minutes to go,’’ Owen said.

‘‘As soon as they scored we knew we were in for a big battle.’’

And Owen, who was substituted towards the end to give Robbie Fowler a run, said his match fitness was back up to its required level after his third game back from injury.

He added: ‘‘It’s fine. I can play 90 minutes and we’ve played three massive games in a short period of time now.’’