A week after the England midfielder was vilified on Merseyside for indicating his desire to leave, the Kop bellowed his name with raucous delight again with Liverpool up and running.
The captain's first ever hat-trick was an apt way to celebrate his change of heart, confirmed in the small hours of the morning eight days ago, and has virtually assured the holders' passage into the second qualifying round in the defence of their trophy.
"He came out against a Welsh League side and treated it as if he was playing Milan," said the visitors' manager Ken McKenna.
Total Network Solutions worked feverishly last night to pep their pride before next week's second leg in Wrexham, though they could do nothing to counter Gerrard. The midfielder, his shirt swapped with the substitute Steven Beck, spoke in the aftermath of "the trouble" being behind him. "It was good to get three goals but I do not believe I have anything to prove to anyone - I only have things to prove to myself," he said. "The fans know what I can do and what I want to do." Even against opponents mustered from a town of 1,736 people, few knew he could do this.
The 25-year-old's first was slapped in from the edge of the six-yard box after John Arne Riise, Anthony le Tallec and Fernando Morientes had combined in the build-up. That prompted little more than a clinched fist in celebration, relief rather than delight etched across Gerrard's face, before he lobbed his second over Gerard Doherty midway through the first half.
The hat-trick sprang from the huff and puff of the hosts' second-half display, speared from distance with the Welsh just as exhausted.
A week ago the words "Judas" and "traitor" had been daubed on the wall at Melwood, with Gerrard No17 shirts burnt outside Anfield. "For him it was important to play well in front of our fans," said Rafael Benítez. "He's a key player for us and we'll build a team around Steven, and I think he'll be more consistent now that his mind is just on Liverpool."
The European champions needed his energy in midfield to lift them out of their pre-season slumbers. Where the first half-hour had suggested they might emulate the 11-0 thrashing handed to Stromgodset Drammen in the 1974 European Cup Winners' Cup, Doherty's excellent display ensured this would be no repeat.
Twice the visitors' goalkeeper denied Morientes from close range, then thwarted Gerrard and Steve Finnan to ensure that, by the time he took his place in front of the Kop for the second half, his face was creased in a permanent smile.
Indeed, TNS's mix of exiled Scousers and Welshmen snapped into challenges all night and deserve to go to the Racecourse on Tuesday hugely encouraged by this performance.
This may have been the mismatch most had expected, but it was never the humiliation some from Llansantffraid had feared.
"The nerves caught us cold at first, but better sides have come here and suffered the same fate as that," added McKenna. "You never know. We might do to Liverpool what they did to Milan in the second game. You never know."
That outcome remains unlikely, even if Liverpool do return from their training trip in Switzerland with a virtual youth team at Wrexham.
Their ranks should soon be swelled by the arrival of Gabriel Milito, despite Real Zaragoza rejecting a £7.5m bid for the Argentinian. The Spanish are seeking £11.7m, though hopes of compromise remain. "I want to leave," said Milito. "I have demanded a settlement with Zaragoza and I believe the transfer is possible."