Glen: Now let's start to build momentum

With five minutes of normal time remaining, Johnson made an instinctive burst into the penalty area and flung himself low to power a header beyond Asmir Begovic and steer home the winning goal of the game.

It was the full-back's first strike since he netted a stunning effort at West Ham United in December 2012 - and his late intervention in front of the Kop halted a run of five games without victory for the Reds.

Afterwards, Brendan Rodgers praised the bravery and anticipation of the No.2, who was unable to immediately celebrate his match-winner as he remained on the Anfield turf to receive treatment for a cut sustained in the process of scoring.

In the tunnel following the final whistle, Johnson told Liverpoolfc.com: "We've always been fighting hard together to try and put things right. So hopefully we can take some momentum from this and move forward.

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"It's always difficult when you're not picking up results. We're players who want to win and we want to win every week. So when you're not picking up results it's hard to take.

"The lads fought hard together from the beginning to get the result and I think it's what we deserved. I think we would have been disappointed if we had not won."

The game came alive in the second half following a subdued affair prior to the interval, with both sides exchanging blows in fierce fashion as the clock ticked down and the scores remained locked at 0-0.

Stoke sprung on the counter-attack on numerous occasions, with their diligent Spaniard Bojan, who rattled Simon Mignolet's post and drew a handful of smart saves from the stopper, at the heart of their every positive move.

However, in the 85th minute the breakthrough materialised. Rickie Lambert met a cross from the right and sent a header spiralling down onto the crossbar. The ball rebounded and Johnson reacted first to steer the winner beyond Begovic.

"It was a great header from Rickie," reflected Johnson. "With a standing jump, you can't usually get much power into it, but he showed his heading ability today.

"I read the flight of the ball and I could see that it was going to hit the crossbar. I was hoping that Begovic would miss the ball and it would bounce the way that it did."

Aside from the personal plaudits and the relief that accompanied a first Barclays Premier League win since Queens Park Rangers in mid-October, there was also a clean sheet for Johnson to celebrate as the final whistle sounded at Anfield.

"That definitely means something," insisted Johnson. "We're there [as defenders] first and foremost to keep the clean sheet, so to do that with the win is a perfect day.

"We had a decent performance in the week [against Ludogorets]. Hopefully we can push on again and start putting in some clinical performances."