David Ngog got the Roy Hodgson era off to the perfect start as Liverpool secured a 2-0 win over FK Rabotnicki in the Europa League third qualifying round on Thursday night.
The French star netted a clinical brace as the Reds produced a mature performance to ensure they will head into next week's second-leg in the driving seat.
His first arrived inside 15 minutes as he danced his way through the home defence after collecting Lucas Leiva's quickly taken free-kick before dinking beyond the goalkeeper.
And Ngog secured the win with a fine volleyed finish from Martin Kelly's cross just before the hour mark.
Ahead of the game Hodgson had challenged his young team to step up to the challenge of facing a well-drilled side with extensive experience of playing European football at this time of the year.
The boss had been pleased with the efforts of some of his rising starlets in the pre-season encounter preceding the clash and gave a competitive debut to David Amoo as well as new signing Milan Jovanovic.
A hostile crowd greeted the new-look Liverpool onto the pitch, but with the likes of Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos at the back, they comfortably dealt with the hosts' vibrant start.
The first moment of any quality took a while to arrive, but when it did it was no surprise to see that it was Alberto Aquilani who provided it, when he picked out Lucas's run from the deep with an incisive pass. The Brazilian raced towards the penalty area but was denied a goalscoring opportunity by some alert goalkeeping from Martin Bogatinov.
However, it served only as warning of what was to come from the Reds and three minutes later the skipper turned provider, as Ngog capitalised on some indecisive play to collect his searching pass, round the 'keeper and coolly slot into an empty net.
Rabotnicki had offered little to suggest they could produce an upset and they were restricted to just two long range efforts throughout the first 45.
In fact, Liverpool could have capped a solid showing with a second prior to the interval. Kyrgiakos was the unlikely man to burst down the right flank and provide a cultured, clipped pass that Aquilani was within a whisker of collecting in front of goal.
The Reds boss had made no secret of his disappointment at having to cope without the majority of his World Cup stars, but he would have been a satisfied man at the break.
A similar display of composure and discipline was required in the second period and they began in dominant fashion.
Ngog put the result beyond doubt on 58 minutes when he fired a well-taken volley home from close-range, with Kelly claiming an assist.
It meant Liverpool were able to see out the final stages in relative comfort as Hodgson marked his first competitive game in charge with a richly deserved win.
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