Sky Sports | Football | News | Spearing hopes for Reds run

Jay Spearing believes Sunday's 2-2 draw with Everton could act as a springboard for both himself and Liverpool.

The 22-year-old midfielder was handed a surprise start in the absence of captain Steven Gerrard and acquitted himself well in a hard-fought Merseyside derby at Anfield.

It was only a second league start for the Wirral-born academy graduate and Spearing only made his comeback from a broken ankle for the reserves last week so represented a major vote of confidence from new manager Kenny Dalglish.

Spearing has made a big impression on the Liverpool great on the training ground and with Gerrard still suspended for Saturday's trip to Wolves, the youngster hopes to keep his place.

Family pride

"This tops everything,"he said.

"In my whole career I've been aiming to play in a derby, especially at Anfield, and to get the nod was a massive boost for myself and a great moment for the family.

"But any game for Liverpool is a massive thing for myself and now I want to get a run in the team and hopefully show I'm capable of sticking around."

Dalglish has shown he is prepared to give youth a chance having started 20-year-old Martin Kelly in all three games since taking over from Roy Hodgson while using Jonjo Shelvey, 18, from the bench.

"You can see from the off - he's put Martin Kelly in and that's the third game on the bounce now,"Spearing added."Hopefully I can follow in his footsteps and get a run going.

"He has faith in us so we must be doing something in training. It's down to us - but it's him as well. It's good he's got the belief to chuck us in."

Dalglish has been handed the reins initially until the end of the season in a bid to arrest an alarming slump in fortunes.

Aura

Despite a creditable derby performance, Liverpool remain just four points above the bottom three, but Spearing believes the Kop legend can inspire a revival.

"We've lost games and that's not like Liverpool, we're not used to that,"he said.

"We need to improve that and with Kenny coming in, that's a massive boost.

"Now it's down to the players and hopefully this can be a great start for us.

"There's just this aura about him, he's King Kenny. For myself, being a local lad, it's a massive thing to try to prove to him that I can play."

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