Torres, Xabi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt were on the bench at Fratton Park and all three were required as Benitez's men chased the win they needed to overtake Manchester United at the top.

Alonso had a hand in Fabio Aurelio's goal to cancel out David Nugent's opener for the hosts, then Kuyt equalised again after Hermann Hreidarsson had put Pompey back in front.

Torres then struck in stoppage time with a header from Yossi Benayoun's cross.

With Steven Gerrard also out Benitez's second string looked set to miss out on top place, but the Spaniard said: "The strength of the squad is good, you can see from the players that played. Hopefully we can be there.

"I think we have enough quality. We knew it would be very difficult to stay top for a long time but we are still there and we want to be contenders to the end."

Benitez explained how his three substitutes needed to rest.

"Torres, Kuyt and Alonso were really tired," he said.

"We had played 10 men and extra time against Everton this week so we were talking with the medical staff about our selection.

"It is not a gamble when you know they were tired.

"I had confidence. We showed great desire to win and they showed character and mentality."

Torres will now link up with the Spain squad ahead of the friendly against Spain on Wednesday.

"He will go to Spain," Benitez confirmed.

"We were in contact with (Spain boss) Vicente Del Bosque, they know the situation and they will decide."

Pompey have not won a league game since November but Adams said: "At the moment everyone tells me they want me to do the job so I'll get on with it."

Adams was disappointed with individual errors for Liverpool's goals but was encouraged by his side's performance.

Adams said: "It's hard to take when you come out of that game with nothing. We made mistakes but on the positive side there were a lot of good performances.

"Nugent worked his socks off and (Angelos) Basinas had a decent debut.

"We've got a third of the season to go and I was very encouraged by that performance.

"They thought they deserved something from the game and threw their hands up and said sorry for the mistakes. I have faith in those players that they won't do it again."