Jamie Carragher ended his Liverpool career with a win and a clean sheet as the Reds ran out 1-0 winners over Queens Park Rangers at Anfield this afternoon.

Philippe Coutinho thought that he had given Liverpool the lead early in the first half when his header appeared to have crossed the line, but referee Martin Atkinson wrongly disallowed the effort.

Coutinho would break the deadlock later in the half, however, firing a low shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards out.

Carragher almost capped off a fine career with a fairytale ending when he let fly from 35 yards out, but his powerful strike thumped off the post.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at an emotional 90 minutes at Anfield.

Match statistics:

Liverpool:
Shots 27
On target 20
Possession 54%
Corners 14
Fouls 7

QPR:
Shots 10
On target 3
Possession 46%
Corners 0
Fouls 3

Was the result fair?

Most certainly. The only thing not fair was that Liverpool should have won by more. They dominated from the first minute until the last and QPR couldn't deal with them at times. Despite their superiority, however, they didn't create too many clear-cut chances and many of their shots were well blocked by the QPR defence. Liverpool can consider themselves unlucky not to have taken the lead even earlier than they did after Coutinho's header was wrongly disallowed, but in truth only one team was ever going to win this match today.

Liverpool's performance

Dominant, but not very clinical. They had plenty of shots, but they mostly came from tight angles or from distance. The hosts didn't have many one-on-one opportunities considering how much of the ball they had. However, they never looked in danger of getting anything fewer than three points and manager Brendan Rodgers will be optimistic for next season. Coutinho, Glen Johnson and Jose Enrique were all particularly good today and some of the football the hosts played was a joy to watch.

QPR's performance

It was another abject performance from QPR. They looked like they were only there to make up the numbers at times and only really threatened Liverpool's goal once or twice in the whole 90 minutes. They never looked like scoring, and that was summed up by Bobby Zamora missing the ball when presented with his side's best chance. Defensively they deserve credit for keeping the score down as Liverpool were repeatedly knocking on the door. They ensured that the hosts were restricted to long shots on the whole, and the likes of Nedum Onuoha and Clint Hill bravely threw their bodies in the way of a number of powerful strikes.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Jamie Carragher: Yes, perhaps there is a little sentiment creeping into this award, but Carragher did play well enough to be considered. It was by no means his busiest game in defence, but everything he needed to deal with he did expertly. Without his close attention, Zamora may well have scored and he also snuffed out a couple of promising attacks QPR had on their rare forays forward. Couple that with his 35-yard screamer that hit the post and he showed that he can still perform at the highest level. Philippe Coutinho deserves a mention for his performance, especially in the first half, while Glen Johnson also had a very good game.

Biggest gaffe

This one has to go to referee Martin Atkinson for not awarding Coutinho's early goal. A corner dropped to the Brazilian at the back post and his diving header went about half a yard over the line before being cleared. In fairness to the ref, there were a lot of bodies in the way of him and it would have been tough to call with just one look at it, but that is what top referees have to be able to do.

Referee performance

Martin Atkinson was very busy early on. Apart from the above-mentioned gaffe, he had an early penalty shout for QPR that could have been given and a mistimed challenge from Jordan Henderson that resulted in a yellow card. Overall, though, he had a fairly solid game and showed some common sense when Carragher jokingly attempted to punch the ball into the QPR net from a cross in the first half. By the book it could have been a red card, but Atkinson did the right thing in accepting the joke and only awarding a free kick.

What next?

Liverpool: Nothing! Boss Rodgers will go into the summer knowing that his side are in good form, and a couple of well-chosen signings could be enough to put them back among England's - and maybe even Europe's - elite.

QPR: A big rebuilding job awaits Harry Redknapp this summer. Expect a mass exodus from Loftus Road as some of the big-money earners are shipped out.