Leaders Arsenal and Manchester United drew 2-2 earlier in the day but the Anfield side failed to take full advantage after wasting a hatful of chances.

With more composure Dirk Kuyt could easily have had a second-half hat-trick while captain Steven Gerrard was unusually wasteful in front of goal, twice firing at former Liverpool keeper Brad Friedel.

Substitute Peter Crouch also had a header cleared off the line by David Bentley as all the visitors' best chances came in the last 20 minutes.

But Benitez, although disappointed, stressed he felt the team had done enough to take all three points.

"With the chances that we had I think could have won - clearly in the second half," said the Spaniard.

"It is important for me to see the team going forward with confidence and pressing and controlling the game.

"The team is progressing, we are creating enough chances to win every game and this is positive. We just need to take the chances.

"If you don't play well and you don't create chances it is a problem but if you create chances in every game for me that is the most important thing.

"Blackburn were playing well and today they had some opportunities, but especially at the end were controlling more and we kept possession."

Benitez also gave his backing to Gerrard after the England midfielder struggled to get involved in the first half, playing in a more advanced role behind solitary striker Kuyt.

The Liverpool captain has started to regain his form in recent weeks but it was only when he was switched back to midfield when Benitez went 4-4-2 midway through the second half that he really looked threatening.

"He was playing well in the second half. The first half was difficult because it was narrow and you couldn't find the space," added the manager, who revealed he left forward Andriy Voronin out of the squad after the Ukrainian's wife went into labour this morning.

"In the second half he (Gerrard) had more freedom and I felt he was playing well and he is playing better the last three games."

But for all Liverpool's chances they could have been too far out of it at half-time had Rovers had more good fortune.

David Bentley hit the post and David Dunn smashed a shot against the crossbar as Rovers dominated before the interval with Liverpool's passing game often disappearing down blind alleys.

Ultimately, however, manager Mark Hughes was happy to come away with a draw after seeing his side hang on at the end after a tiring week which saw them play Tottenham in the league on Sunday and then travel to Portsmouth for a midweek Carling Cup tie.

"We had a real busy week with two difficult games away from home and we put a huge effort into those games," he said.

"I think those two games told somewhat but we stuck at it and Brad made some decent saves at the right time for us.

"I thought it was a very good Premier League game with a lot of real desire to affect the game by both sides.

"Overall, given the chances we had in the first half I think it was probably a fair result."