While Saturday’s win was as welcome as it was necessary, that was Bolton and this is Chelsea. As kettles of fish go, it’s very much sticklebacks and sharks, and with a couple of injury doubts coming back from Lancashire, this was a game that would really test our mettle as well as our credentials. As expected, Richo recovered from a dead-leg (since when was that an injury worth y of missing a match anyway?) and Steed didn’t recover from his ankle problem, so it was Henderson on the right wing alongside…

Fulop
Bardsley Collins Ferdy McCartney
(Hendo) Cat Cana Rico
Jones Bent

For some reason we had two mini-buses instead of a full-size job, so it was a race between the two to get to SAFC first. I’m not sure who got there first, but as the traffic started at the top of Houghton Cut, it was lucky we got there in time. What with the new season cards in operation, I was one of many who didn’t take a chance and got there in plenty of time for it not to work. Of course, it worked perfectly well, and a decent crowd built up.

Kicking south, as it should be, the game was away, but it took us a full two minutes to get anything more than a brief touch of the ball. This period of Chelsea possession ended when Lampard fired well over, and we got a bit of a grip. Bent was played through the inside right channel but forced wide and could only fire his shot wide of the near post. Cana and Cat carried on where they’d left off on Saturday with a series of blood-curdling tackles that scared the life out of Chelsea and raised the tempo amongst their team-mates, particularly Henderson, whose tenacity won a throw near the flag. He then set away on a good run towards the visitors’ box, but was crowded out, then was pulled up for a foul after what looked like a perfectly good tackle. Richo played the ball in from the left, Jones collected, turned and shot, and when the ball broke to Bent, there was only one place it was going. 1-0, and well worth in for getting in the faces of our supposedly more illustrious opponents. 72 minutes to go – could we hold on?

Initial indications were good, as England’s number three was visibly rattled by Henderson’s attentions and JT (as he’s got to be called) didn’t like the presence of Jones. Cana and Cat prowled the midfield and fed the wide men, and Chelsea had to endure a spell on the back foot until Drogba’s strength created a chance, but it was a Sunderland fan near the corner flag who felt the full force of the ball rather than the back of the net. The visitors were slowly moving up a gear, and Jones was needed to hoof the ball away from our own penalty spot, and Richo moved more infield with Bent moving more towards the left as Bruce attempted to crowd Chelsea out of the crucial midfield area.

Richardson got himself booked for throwing the ball away when pulled up on the edge of the box, but when Bent was clearly blocked on the bye-line, no decision was forthcoming. Cana chased a ball towards the goal-line and Terry tried to draw a reaction with a big old shoulder, but our Albanian isn’t bothered by that sort of thing. The visitors forced a corner which was only partially cleared, and Cat was on the post to block a goal-bound volley. This spell of intense pressure didn’t result in much in the way of shots on target by Chelsea, and the 1-0 scoreline was probably no more than we deserved, although producing a defensive display good enough to protect that lead for another 45 seemed a big call. However, we’d got in Chelsea’s pampered faces and they hadn’t liked it very much, so there was hope.

Many of us had expected Richo, what with his booking and carrying that injury, to be replaced, but there were no changes and we continued with Jones up front on his own until Bent cut in from the left to support. Chelsea footballed their way to a couple of corners which we defended well, then the third was headed over. A fourth followed when Hendo produced a marvellous knock away in the box, but the kick arrived low at the back post for Ballack to belt just inside the post on 52 minutes. Ballack bollocks. We had a chance to get back when Jones was fouled in Richo territory, but it was Bent who fired into the wall. He was being asked a lot, what with covering the left wing and getting inside to support Kenwyne. Despite these brief breaks forward, it was wave after wave of blue that headed towards the south stand, and when Drogba twisted inside the box, the last thing we wanted was George to stick his leg out to concede the softest, but most obvious, of penalties. Lampard? He doesn’t miss those, despite Fulop getting close, and Chelsea then proceeded to show us how to defend a lead by passing the life out of us. Was this self-inflicted because we sat back deeper, or was it forced upon us by a bunch of super-efficient footballers?

Cana’s booking on 68 for a bit of a tussle was followed by Deco’s brilliant strike from the edge of the box for the third, and that was game over for us. I know that fortune favours the brave, but it’s also obvious that refs favour the Blues (or Man U, Arsenal, or Liverpool) as Chelsea appeared to trip over cobwebs and win free-kicks for challenges that were deemed acceptable when perpetrated on a player in a red and white shirt. Having said that, Chelsea were relentless, and even switched to three at the back. Cat was replaced by Leadbitter, probably with Saturday’s game in mind, and Jones by Campbell. The game might have been over, but at least we moved back to two up front and Campbell almost got himself and Bent through on a couple of occasions. They replaced Kalou with Malouda, we replaced Richo with Reid, two minutes of added time were announced, and the brought on some knacker called Schevchenko. There was still time for Fulop to pull off a good save from a curling effort, but the game had effectively been over for half an hour when the whistle went.

It was a disappointing result, and perhaps a disappointing performance in that Chelsea were all over us in the second half, but they’ll beat a lot of teams by a more than they beat us tonight. As much as we didn’t play well, they did, and if they play like that for most of the season they’ll probably win the league. Anelka didn’t even get off the bench, for goodness sake. A harsh lesson learned? I don’t know what you can learn from that, other than they are very good, and that we can get a top team on the back foot by the simple tactic of getting amongst them – if only for a while.

Still there’s Blackburn on Saturday, and thankfully they’re no Chelsea.

Man of the Match? Probably Henderson, who, considering his age, showed commendable physical presence against a bunch of top players.

Keep the Faith

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