Published>Fri, Jul 30 10 04:57 AM
David Ngog struck a goal in each half to give Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson a successful start as his side won 2-0 at Rabotnicki Skopje in a Europa League third qualifying round, first-leg match on Thursday.
The French striker opened the scoring after capitalising on a defensive blunder in the 18th minute and added the second just before the hour mark, steering in a crisp shot from 10 metres.
The Macedonians failed to trouble a second-string Liverpool team missing many of their World Cup players, including captain Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
The stadium's capacity was sold out a week ahead of the fixture but many of the disappointed 22,000 home fans left the fairly uneventful match well before the final whistle.
New signing Milan Jovanovic was among Liverpool's starters and the Serbia winger had a decent game on the left flank, causing problems with his speed and close control.
"Many of our young players are not used to playing in a match like this but I am very satisfied with their performance," Hodgson told a news conference.
"If we are to have a good season in the Premier League, we must use all the players we have.
"We were without 13 players tonight but the mix of young and experienced players we fielded fulfilled my expectations."
The latter stages of the match were played in near darkness, after floodlight failure at the stadium's newly-built northern tier. The return leg is at Anfield next Thursday.
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