This was a result which neither side would have wanted before kick-off but it is also one which has not harmed their respective ambitions for the season.

Liverpool, chasing Champions League football as much for the club's bank balance as the future of manager Gerard Houllier, continue to remain in the reckoning for the all-important fourth place in the Premiership.

Houllier's side initially led through former Leeds star Harry Kewell, yet were made to come from behind during an all-action first half as Milan Baros cancelled out goals from Eirik Bakke and Mark Viduka.

Leeds, despite being unbeaten in their last three games from which they have taken five points, remain bottom of the table, yet their optimism is on the rise.

Unsurprisingly, Kewell was subjected to vehement abuse from Leeds fans still angry at his defection to Liverpool last summer.

Kewell returned to Elland Road for the first time since his controversial transfer in which the role of his agent Bernie Mandic was criticised.

Although the deal was a reported £5million, an astonishing £2million of that lined the pocket of Mandic, while a further £500,000 went to the player.

Leeds, meanwhile, picked up just £2.5million for a player then rated at four times that amount.

Derogatory chants echoed around the ground every time Kewell touched the ball, with one skied shot over the bar resulting in taunting cheers from the Leeds fans.

Kewell also set up Michael Owen for a fifth-minute curler which clipped Gary Kelly, while the England international later flashed a drive over the bar before the former Leeds favourite silenced his detractors.

After a toe-poked shot from 15 yards through the legs of Leeds captain and one-time Liverpool defender Dominic Matteo which an alert Paul Robinson just managed to push away, Kewell struck in the 21st minute.

Play first switched from the left flank to the right, with Baros supplying Kewell who curled a sensational 20-yard left-foot shot beyond Robinson and, although there was no celebration from the Reds star, his smile said it all.

But within eight minutes Leeds were level as Didier Domi, Alan Smith and Jermaine Pennant all combined to set up Bakke for a flick past Chris Kirkland for his first goal since February 4, and his first in the league for 14 months.

Liverpool responded with skipper Steven Gerrard setting up Baros for a towering close-range header which crashed against the bar before Leeds soon countered to take the lead.

A Robinson goal-kick was inadvertently headed on by Sami Hyypia to Smith who took the ball on his chest before volleying a lofted pass into Viduka's stride for the striker to then loft his seventh of the season over Kirkland.

It was the tonic Viduka needed after missing a far simpler chance prior to Kewell opening the scoring and with the 28-year-old back in the side after serving a one-match FIFA-imposed ban for failing to turn out for Australia in a recent friendly in Venezuela.

But four minutes before the break Liverpool were back on level terms as Baros weaved his way past Domi and Seth Johnson before firing a crisp 19-yard drive past Robinson.

England internationals Smith and Owen then exchanged chances throughout the second period, with the Leeds striker ending an incisive 52nd-minute move by flashing an acutely-angled drive past Kirkland and beyond the far post by an inch.

Owen then saw a diving seven-yard header palmed past the post by an instinctive Robinson save after Kewell had curled a Baros ball into the striker's path.

Robinson and Kirkland again thwarted Owen and Smith soon after, before the latter appeared to have won the game for Leeds in the 73rd minute.

With a chance remarkably reminiscent of his equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Manchester United last week, Smith stole in front of Stephane Henchoz in meeting a clipped James Milner cross, only for his header to crash off the underside of the bar.

Robinson, in front of the watching Sven-Goran Eriksson, then produced the save of the game in the 87th minute as he was at full stretch to tip away a rising, yet goal-bound Dietmar Hamann drive from 30 yards.

Although Leeds were under pressure in the closing stages, it was they who had the final chance to win the game in the second minute of injury time.

Domi met an inswinging Stephen McPhail corner with a powerful downward header, only for Jamie Carragher to clear off the line.

Teams

Leeds Robinson, Kelly, Caldwell, Matteo, Domi, Pennant, Bakke (McPhail 45), Seth Johnson, Milner, Smith (Simon Johnson 82), Viduka.

Subs Not Used: Carson, Harte, Radebe.

Goals: Bakke 29, Viduka 34.

Liverpool Kirkland, Finnan, Hyypia, Henchoz, Carragher, Murphy, Hamann, Gerrard, Kewell, Owen, Baros (Heskey 80).

Subs Not Used: Dudek, Diouf, Biscan, Cheyrou.

Booked: Henchoz.

Goals: Kewell 21, Baros 42.

Att: 39,932

Ref: P Durkin (Dorset).