Wasteful Liverpool held 1-1 by Norwich

Liverpool: Liverpool was held for a second successive Premier League match as promoted Norwich secured a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Saturday.

Striker Craig Bellamy marked his first start since returning to Liverpool in August with a goal in first-half stoppage time.

But Grant Holt leveled on the hour - just three minutes after coming off the bench - after meeting Anthony Pilkington's cross with a powerful header.

"I thought we rode our luck a little bit in the first half," Holt said. "The manager's put a belief in us that we just keep going. The lads have done fantastic and we've worked hard."

The point lifted promoted Norwich to seventh, just three points behind fifth-placed Liverpool.

Had it not been for the woodwork, Liverpool would have enjoyed a much more comfortable evening as twice within the opening 12 minutes the team came within inches of scoring.

Martin Skrtel's glancing header from Charlie Adam's corner crashed against the crossbar and Luis Suarez's first sight of goal saw him uncharacteristically miss the target from the left side of the penalty area.

Norwich briefly threatened when Wes Hoolahan's shot and Steve Morison's header were both fumbled by Pepe Reina, although in between that Suarez had fired across goal in front of the Kop.

Apart from that brief spell Norwich, who had won three of their last four matches, had to resist Liverpool domination.

But just when it seemed the hosts had failed to take advantage, Bellamy scored. Suarez's nuisance factor in the Norwich defence saw him tussle with Russell Martin, allowing the ball to drop to Bellamy on the edge of the area, and his low shot took a deflection off Tierney on its way past goalkeeper John Ruddy.

Bellamy left Norwich 11 years ago and on his travels around various clubs in the Premier League spent one season at Anfield in 2006-7.

The Welsh forward returned in the off-season with unfinished business and appeared to have resumed his mission in ideal fashion with his first league goal of his second spell.

The woodwork denied Liverpool in the 51st when Suarez's run left Leon Barnett baffled, but the Uruguay international's shot deflected off Martin and onto the post.

And Liverpool was made to pay for it when Holt leveled. He almost doubled his tally six minutes later but this time Reina dealt with his far-post header and, as the game opened up, Ruddy was relieved to see Suarez's toe-poke roll behind after squirming through his fingers.

Suarez's 78th-minute shot was turned past the far post by Ruddy with Gerrard lurking outside the six-yard box as the hosts tried to make up for missed opportunities.

Liverpool, desperate, sought the towering Andy Carroll at the end, and deep in stoppage time a cross found the hulking striker in the box for what should have been the decisive blow, but the 35-million-Pound man contrived to head wide in a poor miss.

Just when the Reds must have thought they had blown it, a final chance arrived through the ever-threatening Suarez. The forward aimed a classy volley at goal, but Ruddy produced a moment of magic to leap up and deny him to salvage the point at full-time.

"I'm just delighted with the point," Ruddy said. "The lads were tremendous, in the second half we were a different animal."

The Liverpool defence has so far only kept clean sheets against Arsenal and Everton, both of whom had been reduced to 10 men.

Liverpool are already four points adrift of fourth-placed Newcastle, who extended their unbeaten start to the Premier League season with a 1-0 victory against Wigan.

At St. James' Park, Yohan Cabaye scored his first goal since joining Newcastle from Lille in the off-season. The midfielder curled home a knock-back by Sylvain Marveaux after Newcastle had struggled for most of the match and failed to create clear-cut chances. However, his goal in the 81st minute sent Wigan bottom with a sixth successive loss.

"It needed a bit of magic and it was a great goal, the technique was top class," Newcastle manager Alan Pardew said.

Wigan are in the relegation zone with Bolton, who lost 2-0 at home to Sunderland after late goals from Stephane Sessegnon and Nicklas Bendtner.

Sunderland scored their two goals in the last eight minutes to win their second match of the campaign.

Sessegnon produced a crisp finish in the 82nd after Chris Eagles lost his footing, allowing the Ivory Coast midfielder to turn smartly before slotting the ball into the net.

Sessegnon then turned provider, running at the Bolton defence and putting a ball through for the unmarked Bendtner to score.

There were also late goals at Wolverhampton Wanderers, who fought back from two goals down against Swansea to salvage a 2-2 draw and end a run of five consecutive league losses.

The hosts trailed 2-0 to Swansea at half-time after goals from Danny Graham and Joe Allen.

Kevin Doyle began the Wolves recovery with an 84th-minute strike after goalkeeper Michel Vorm parried Sam Vokes' shot.

And Doyle charged down the right flank before setting up Jamie O'Hara for the equalizer that could ease the pressure slightly on manager Mick McCarthy.

"We were as low as we could, be to be honest, at half-time," Doyle said. "We've lost five in a row and it looked like we were going to lose six, but we came back. It's a massive point for us. Everyone's high as a kite after being down in the dumps after 84 minutes."

In a West Midlands derby, Paul Scharner secured a 2-1 victory for West Bromwich over Aston Villa, their first league victory at Villa Park for 32 years after coming from behind.

Villa went ahead through Darren Bent's 23rd-minute penalty after West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor.

But the game turned West Brom's way after Villa midfielder Chris Herd was red-carded in the 35th following a clash with Jonas Olsson in the penalty area.

Chris Brunt missed the resulting spot-kick but he provided the corner that Olsson equalized from before half time.

And from another of Brunt's corners after the break, Scharner volleyed in the winner the underside of the crossbar.