Liverpool Football Club News

• Nickname:Reds
• Founded:1892
• Manager:Kenny Dalglish

• Ground:Anfield
• Capacity:45,362

Rafa hails professional Kuyt

26 Apr 2009 - 11:34:00

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Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez hailed the match-winning performance of Dirk Kuyt after the Dutchman's two goals in Saturday's 3-1 win over Hull City.

The Reds kept up the pressure on league leaders Manchester United following the victory over ten-man opposition at the KC Stadium.

Kuyt capped another hard-working performance - his 100th in the Premier League - with two second-half goals and afterwards Benitez was delighted with his display.

"Everyone has to be really pleased at the club because Kuyt is a fantastic professional who always works so hard," said the Spaniard.

"It was very good for him to score on his 100th game - very positive. I'm really pleased for him."

Meanwhile, Benitez was relieved to pick up three points against a side fighting for their lives at the foot of the table.

He added: "We deserved to win so I'm happy - we got three points from a difficult game.

"It's always dangerous (against a team fighting to avoid relegation) because you know they will fight until the end. We talked about it before. We needed to be calm and challenge for every single ball.

"We were a little bit nervous because the pitch was terrible. The grass was long and it was very difficult to pass the ball. That means you can make mistakes when the other teams goes to press.

"But you have to accept this situation because it's part of the game, and we were better in the second half. We were a little bit nervous but we showed character."