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WIGAN – Liverpool's title challenge suffered another setback on Wednesday as Wigan striker Mido hit a debut penalty to earn a 1-1 draw at the JJB Stadium.

Rafael Benitez's side looked set for their first Premier League win of 2009 when Yossi Benayoun fired them into a first half lead.

But Liverpool's old problems came back to haunt them as once again they failed to protect a lead.

With seven minutes remaining, Lucas Leiva needlessly fouled Wigan substitute Jason Koumas in the penalty area and Egyptian star Mido, who is on loan from Middlesbrough until the end of the season, sent Jose Reina the wrong way from the penalty.

Having started January on top of the table, Liverpool end it two points adrift of leaders Manchester United, who also have a game in hand.

Liverpool had started brightly, Fernando Torres denied his first Premier League goal since October 5 when his glancing header from Steven Gerrard's 13th minute cross rebounded off the post.

Torres was proving a difficult opponent for Wigan's defence. Four minutes later he went close with a shot on the turn from the edge of the area as Liverpool stroked the ball around with confidence.

Wigan looked almost unrecognisable from their last outing in the top-tier 11 days earlier at Manchester City.

Steve Bruce's club have, surprisingly, proved one of the busiest clubs in the transfer window with Emile Heskey and Wilson Palacios raking in a combined fee of 17.5 million pounds after moving to Aston Villa and Tottenham respectively.

Their departures has paved the way for a string of new arrivals at the JJB including Mido, who partnered international team mate Amr Zaki in attack.

Yet it was an unlikely source who came closest to troubling Liverpool in a first half of few chances as Emmerson Boyce was allowed a free header from close range which the defender failed to make the best of the opportunity.

Liverpool ended the half strongly, Ryan Babel dispatching a goal bound shot which was so fierce that Mike Pollitt was unable to hold on before Benayoun broke the deadlock in the 41st minute on his favourite Premier League ground.

Benayoun is not renowned for his scoring ability yet he fully deserved his second goal of the campaign after rounding Pollitt before finding the net from an acute angle following a defence-splitting pass by Javier Mascherano.

It was hardly surprising that he should breach the Wigan defence.

After all he did score Liverpool's winner in the corresponding fixture last season and also netted at the JJB Stadium during West Ham's 3-0 win over Wigan in 2007.

Liverpool's recent problems have stemmed from their inability to kill teams off which has forced them to concede pole position in the table.

They were guilty of it as recently as last week when they allowed Everton to equalise three minutes from time at Anfield having led the Merseyside derby for half an hour.

It was something that was clearly on their mind as they started the second half looking to put the game out of Wigan's reach.

Fabio Aurelio went close to doubling his side's advantage from a free -kick while Gerrard went even closer with a rasping effort in the 74th minute.

Yet Liverpool's old problems came back to haunt them in spectacular style as Mido sent Reina the wrong way from the penalty spot after Lucas had needlessly fouled substitute Koumas.

It could have been worse for Liverpool, debutant Hugo Rodallega hitting the bar in the dying seconds on his Wigan debut.

SOUTHAMPTON, England (AFP) – Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged his misfiring players to use this weekend's FA Cup third round trip to Southampton as an opportunity to rediscover their scoring touch.

AFP/File – Manchester United's South Korean midfielder Park Ji-Sung. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has challenged

United have not scored more than one goal in a Premier League game since beating Stoke 5-3 at Old Trafford in November.

Ferguson is anxious to put that statistic right at the St Mary's Stadium on Sunday ahead of a potentially crucial league meeting with Chelsea next weekend.

"Every game is an opportunity to score goals," Ferguson said. "We made 25 chances against Middlesbrough on Monday and scored once. It is not what we expect but with the players we have, you have to think someone is going to suffer.

"The goalscoring will correct itself at some point because we have good goalscorers."

No team has ever won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season and Ferguson has already played down United's chances of a historic quadruple.

The United boss is looking for an extended FA Cup run after being knocked out by Southampton's south coast rivals and eventual winners Portsmouth last season.

Ferguson added: "We are competing. The FA Cup is partly down to luck. It is sudden death and anything can happen.

"We have not got the home draw I always look for but they have a good stadium and I expect an interesting game.

"Southampton were one of the most consistent teams for nearly 30 years.

"They had a fantastic record for a provincial team, with some marvellous players.

"They had that golden period under Lawrie McMenemy with lads like Peter Shilton, Mike Channon and Kevin Keegan. More recently, Matthew Le Tissier was top goalscorer in the Premier League.

"Now they are having to deal with young players but their coach has done a great job considering he has no money to work with."

United's preparations have been boosted by Cristiano Ronaldo pledging his future to the club and the 16 million pounds (16.65 million euros) double signing of Serbian youngsters Zoran Tosic and Adem Ljajic from Partizan Belgrade.

While United are preparing for a second half of the season assault at home and in Europe, Southampton face a battle to preserve their Championship status.

Their Dutch manager Jan Poortvliet says beating Ferguson's side would equal the achievement of playing for his country in the 1978 World Cup final against Argentina.

Poortvliet said: "This is your biggest challenge as a manager when you play against the world champions and you can put them out of the FA Cup.

"You will remember the day for the rest of your life. The FA Cup is massive not only in England but also in Holland because it will be on television there.

"For every coach it is special playing against the best in Europe and in the world. It is like a World Cup final.

"Playing for my country in the World Cup final was huge but you can say Sunday has the same prestige."

United will be without injured defender Rio Ferdinand while Polish international Tomasz Kuszczak is set to replace the rested Edwin van der Sar in goal.