Steven Gerrard stepped up and smacked a winning penalty home yet another time in his career to send his Liverpool side home as 2-1 victors over West Ham, his second spot kick of the game.
The England captain has scored several important goals in his career, the Anfield hero possessing enough heroic moments that could equate his career highlights video on Youtube to a scene from Braveheart. And yet, the converted penalty to give Brendan Rodgers' side their ninth straight victory and give the Reds a two point lead at the top of the Premier League table could arguably be the most important (or at the very least memorable) of his career.
Because it's not surprising to see Steven Gerrard win games on his own, the sight of the midfielder coolly converting a penalty to keep his side's hopes alive has been a constant since the 33-year-old entered the hearts and minds of Premier League fans over a decade ago.
What is surprising, however, is that his goal gives Liverpool the lead in a title race no-one had them potentially winning just months ago.
Fresh from a 7th placed position at the end of the 2012-13 season, Brendan Rodgers was given a simple task: improve that place next season. A top four spot giving Liverpool a place in the Champions League for the first time since Rafael Benitez managed the side in 2009 was seen as an attainable target, but not an expected one.
Suffice to say, Rodgers and his squad have surpassed those summer predictions.
Under the former Swansea coaches tutelage, Liverpool have rocketed up the Premier League table playing a brand of football that is the most exciting Premier League fans have seen since Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo-Carlos Tevez-Wayne Rooney trio terrorized defences en route to two of United's three consecutive league titles between 2007 and 2009.
29(!!!) goal forward Luis Suarez leads a front line that pairs him with the only other striker that has more than 18 league goals in Daniel Sturridge, who has transformed his reputation from Chelsea's moody but selfish reserve striker to the most clinical English forward in the league.
Obviously Liverpool's Uruguayan star has nabbed the majority of the headlines (and rightly so) with performances reminiscent of Thierry Henry in his Arsenal Invincibles's pomp, but a glance through the league leaders side is a collection of underrated players who have all taken a step forward at the same time.
Jordan Henderson, who has been a revelation in centre of midfield for Rodgers' side leads a supporting cast of Philippe Coutinho, John Flanagan and teen winger Raheem Sterling conspiring to make a feel-good side that is playing with the same youthful exuberance on the pitch that is being displayed off it.
Rivals Manchester City can still overtake Liverpool (who sit four points above Manuel Pellegrini's side) with their two games in hand, but one of them being at Anfield mean that destiny is still firmly in Liverpool's hands.
It's an astounding turn of events that in the space of a season expectations have shifted so drastically that it would actually be rather disappointing if Liverpool didn't end up champions in late-May. However, it should always be remembered that no matter how the season ends, a heartbreaking second place is a remarkable achievement considering the financial clout shown by Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and even Manchester United in the last two transfer windows in comparison to the Anfield side's relatively profligate additions during the same period.
The title would Liverpool's first in the Premier League era, their last one coming at the conclusion of the 1990 season, the last title won by Kop heroes John Barnes, Alan Hansen and Ian Rush. If that 1990 success was the last title won by a veteran collection of champions, an unlikely 2014 title would be the mirror image of that; Rodgers' thin team made up of young, exciting talent.
So the converted penalty Gerrard dispatched was important for a number of reasons for Liverpool fans. It keeps them at the top of the table (also mathematically eliminating Manchester United, which won't go unnoticed in Merseyside) and in doing so, it keeps the dream of a fairy tale title challenge alive, one that they were never supposed to be part of to begin with.
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