Birmingham City twice established a two-goal lead at Anfield on 2 December 1972. Neither advantage proved enough. Liverpool recovered from 2–0 and 3–1 down, with Alec Lindsay scoring twice before John Toshack delivered the winner in a 4–3 victory.
Gordon Taylor put Birmingham ahead after twelve minutes and Bobby Hope added the second eight minutes later. Liverpool had won all nine of their home league matches that season, but the visitors had created a substantial threat to that perfect record before the first half was halfway through.
Lindsay reduced the deficit in the thirty-second minute. Birmingham restored their cushion through Bob Latchford ten minutes later, leaving Liverpool facing the prospect of a two-goal interval deficit.
Peter Cormack changed that before the break. His goal in the forty-fourth minute made it 3–2, and Lindsay’s second, ten minutes into the second half, brought the sides level.
The final turn came in the seventy-seventh minute. Toshack scored Liverpool’s fourth, putting them ahead for the first time. Birmingham, who had scored three times before half-time, could not add another after it.
Liverpool’s recovery involved more than its three scorers. Emlyn Hughes, captaining the side, was credited with the assists for both Lindsay goals; Kevin Keegan supplied Cormack and Toshack. The same two creators were therefore involved in cutting the deficits and in producing the goals which drew Liverpool level and finally put them in front.
The contrast with the preceding European match was striking. Three days earlier, Liverpool had drawn 0–0 away to Dynamo Berlin in the UEFA Cup. Here there were five goals before the interval and seven altogether, with Liverpool unable to count on a lead until the closing stages.
They remained top of the First Division. Their tenth home league win of the campaign had demanded a far greater recovery than the score alone could convey: Birmingham had held a two-goal advantage as late as the forty-second minute, yet Liverpool took both points.