Gästeforum » the puck and found Ryder alone in front. Florida tied

LIVERPOOL, England -- With their title dreams extinguished, Liverpools players circled the pitch inside Anfield Stadium, heads bowed, to the backdrop of another passionately sung rendition of club anthem "Youll Never Walk Alone." The final match of the Reds season could have been a celebration of the most unlikely championship triumph in Premier League history. It ended up being a tale of what might have been. Liverpool came up short Sunday in its bid for a first league title in 24 years, finishing two points behind champion Manchester City despite a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Newcastle. Brendan Rodgers team did their part on what proved to be an anticlimactic last day, passing the 100-goal mark for the league campaign after near-identical strikes in the space of two second-half minutes by Daniel Agger and Daniel Sturridge. That clinched a club-record 26th league victory. But Liverpool was also relying on a favour from West Ham at Etihad Stadium, which was always unlikely to happen. City won 2-0, keeping the trophy out of Liverpools grasp. "Im devastated for the fans," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said. "Although weve made them dream, Im devastated we didnt go that one step more." If there was any frustration inside Rodgers after the final whistle, he hid it well. For Liverpool had the destiny of the title in its hands just three weeks ago, when it beat Norwich 3-2 for an 11th straight win. Then came a decisive nine days when Rodgers side lost 2-0 at home to Chelsea before conceding three goals in the final 11 minutes to draw 3-3 at Crystal Palace. It meant there was more hope than expectation heading into the Newcastle match. "We finished the season winning 12 games out of 14," Rodgers said. "So the players have shown incredible level of consistency and quality in that period ... wed prefer to finish top, but its a great mark of progress this season." Anfield has seen previous last-game drama, with Arsenal winning 2-0 here in 1989 thanks to an injury-time goal from Michael Thomas to snatch the title from Liverpool. Twenty-five years on, Journeys famous song "Dont Stop Believin" blared out before kickoff. But all hope among Liverpool fans was gone by halftime, with their team 1-0 down thanks to Martin Skrtels own goal in the 20th minute and City having virtually guaranteed finishing first by going 1-0 up against West Ham. After a poor first half, Liverpool steeled itself to finish the season on a high, with Gerrard crossing for Agger to volley in after 63 minutes and then producing a similar delivery for Sturridge to tap in at the far post. It was all in vain. "When we went in front and there was no roar from the crowd, I realized the story was elsewhere," Rodgers said. Having started so positively, Newcastle imploded after the break in conceding two quick goals and then seeing Shola Ameobi and Paul Dummett both sent off. Ameobi received two yellow cards in 10 seconds for dissent as he argued with the referee about fouls in the build-up to Liverpools goals, before Dummett departed after a high challenge on Luis Suarez. Sunday was all about Liverpool, though, not Newcastle. From a seventh-place finish last season, Liverpool almost achieved what many considered impossible. "The word now is belief -- belief that we can be up there challenging," said Rodgers, who read out to his squad before the match a letter from a young fan called Ben -- sent before the start of the season -- which urged the players to believe they could win the title. "Probably at the time, the players and maybe the staff all thought the letter was maybe far-fetched," Rodgers added. "But I truly believe we could progress. "For us, its been a wonderful campaign of growth and development." The Premier League remains elusive to the 33-year-old Gerrard, who sees hope for the future. "I thought my days of title races had gone," he said, "but having played with this group of players this year the dream is back. Although Ive only got a couple of years left I still believe I can get there." Jack Butland England Jersey . Minutes before the final whistle of Sporting Kansas Citys 3-0 victory over a shorthanded Montreal Impact squad on Saturday afternoon, Saputo tweeted: "Our fans deserve better. Jesse Lingard England Jersey . "Uuufff," was all shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria could come up with after Stantons latest mammoth shot. http://www.englandsoccerpro.com/Kyle-Walker-England-Jersey/ . Mike Ribeiro had a goal and an assist as Phoenix held on to snap a two-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday. Phil Jones Jersey . Smith, an eighth overall pick, had two goals in only 276 minutes of playing time over 16 appearances last season. The left side midfielder played only 43 minutes in three games this season. Harry Kane Jersey . -- Hee Young Park topped the leaderboard at 8 under Friday in the suspended second round of the Kingsmill Championship. NEWARK, N.J. -- During the course of a season, New Jersey Devils coach Pete DeBoer draws up hundreds of faceoff plays in practice or on the bench. "Rarely do they work," DeBoer said. "Either you lose the draw or you dont get a bounce." The unexpected happened Saturday night. Marek Zidlicky scored with 2.1 seconds showing on the overtime clock after a late timeout by DeBoer and a faceoff win by Travis Zajac to lift the Devils to a stirring 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers. Jaromir Jagr also played a big part in the win, nudging the faceoff win with just over three seconds to play to Zidlicky at the top of the right circle for a shot into the top corner of the net past Tim Thomas. "Pete drew it up, that if I can get it to Jags, he was going to slide it to Zid for a one-timer," Zajac said. "What you saw was what he wanted us to do. Everyone executed their part. It was the perfect setup, really. I was lucky." Zidlicky was perfect with his shot for his eighth goal of the season, the one that helped New Jersey avoid a shootout. The Devils have lost their last 10 shootouts, one shy of the NHL record recently set by Detroit. "That was a great draw, and a great pass. Thats where it all started ... and I just took the shot," Zidlicky said after the Devils finished a 2-0-1 homestand. "That was the perfect setup for us. We try it all the time, and a lot of times it doesnt work. Tonight, it did." Jagr joked that he never got a chance to congratulate Zidlicky because his Czech countryman skated away to hog the glory. The play was good, though. "Just go take a look at the board over there," Jagr said. "It happened just the way we drew it up. Itll probably never happen that way again. It happened exactly the way we wanted to do it. The key was the faceoff. It started with Travis." Jagr earned his 1,724th NHL point, moving him ahead of former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Mario Lemieux and into seventh place on the leagues career scoring list. Panthers coach Peter Horaceck was more disappointed with his team for its overall play in the game rather than the late goal, which he said was a great shot. "It wasnt very good," he said. "We didnt deserve anything, and we got a point for something we didnt deserve. We didnt play very well.dddddddddddd They outplayed us most of the game." Still, the late goal was tough on a night in which Thomas was outstanding in making 34 saves. "This is about as bad as it gets," Panthers goal scorer Nick Bjugstad said. "Five seconds. That puck had eyes and went in. What are you going to do? I saw out there I had to block that shot." Michael Ryder extended his goal streak to four games, and Cory Schneider made 29 saves in giving New Jersey its second straight win. With both teams in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference and needing points, the third period was wide open despite the 1-1 tie. Both teams had great chances, but Thomas and Schneider stopped them on the doorstep. Thomas best saves in the period came on a deflection by Reid Boucher and a stuff attempt by Ryane Clowe in the final two minutes. Schneider denied a power-play chance early in the period by Tomas Kopecky, and a shot by Sean Bergenheim with 9.2 seconds left in regulation. Ryder gave the Devils a 1-0 lead with his team-high 16th goal late in the first period. Thomas made a couple of good stops but the Panthers had trouble clearing their zone. Defenceman Erik Gudbranson tried to carry the puck around the net, but Clowe stripped him of the puck and found Ryder alone in front. Florida tied it about a minute after Thomas robbed Adam Henrique on a rebound attempt that prevented New Jersey from taking a two-goal lead. A Panthers counterattack produced the tying goal. Scottie Upshall carried the puck up the right boards and gave it to Bjugstad. He found Tomas Fleischmannn, who sent a pass in front that Bjugstad redirected into the upper corner of the net past Schneider. Schneider stopped breakaways by Upshall and Kopecky in the first two periods. Thomas had at least a half dozen good saves, including stopping a short-handed breakaway by Ryan Carter early in the third. Schneider also got a break when a shot by Brian Campbell hit of the post during a power play. NOTES: Former NBA great Shaquille ONeal dropped the puck during a ceremonial opening faceoff. ... The Panthers three lineup scratches, C Scott Gomez, D Mike Mottau and F Krys Barch, are all former Devils. ... Clowe has assists in three straight games. ... Florida went 1-1-1 on its three-game road trip. ' ' '