JUSSI Jaaskelainen believes Wanderers showed enough in defeat to Liverpool on Saturday to stay clear of the Premiership drop zone.

The 2-0 defeat left Gary Megson’s Whites just one point clear of the bottom three, but the Reebok number one says their second half performance against a team with genuine title aspirations suggested they should have no worries on the relegation front.

Jaaskelainen admitted that Wanderers let Liverpool play in the first half when they took the lead with a Dirk Kuyt header, but were a different proposition in the second when they got their act together. The result was in the balance until Steven Gerrard headed the second goal 18 minutes from time, punishing a mistake by Andy O’Brien.

“I think we performed pretty well,” the in-from keeper said.

“We did okay in the second half and, obviously, we’d have hoped to have done that in the first half. It’s never easy when you play against top players and the top teams, but, as long as we can keep the level of performance we had in the second half, we’ll have no worries.”

Liverpool ended the day level on points with Chelsea at the top of the Premiership table, justifying claims that they can mount a serious challenge as they bid for their first league title since 1990.

But Wanderers felt they were justified in feeling they were denied a legitimate equaliser when Gary Cahill’s header was disallowed by referee Rob Styles for a foul by Kevin Nolan on Reds’ keeper Pepe Reina.

Jaaskelainen acknowledged Liverpool’s class but stopped short of tipping them for the title because Wanderers had made life too easy for them in the first half.

“I have to say that in the first half, when we gave them too much space, they looked very good. They won’t be far off (the title), but we’ll see,” he told Wanderers World.

“We gave them a little bit too much respect in the first half, too much space to play and, obviously, when they are a top team with top players, they’ll punish you.

“But what we did in the second half was close them down a bit more and we were at it a bit more. It was a bit fortunate for them how they got the second goal because it was a mistake from us, but that’s the Premier League.”

Wanderers were furious that Cahill’s equaliser was not allowed to stand but Jaaskelainen believes the controversy helped galvanise the team at half-time.

“I thought we were hard done by with that decision against us,” the keeper added. “It was a fair goal and should have stood but when you play against big teams – United, Arsenal, Liverpool – big decisions go against us. That’s football.

“When we went in (at half-time) we just had a couple of words about it but we decided to leave it and just go at Liverpool in the second half – and that’s what we did.”