FA Cup - Southend force Chelsea replay

Eurosport - Sun, 04 Jan 09:02:00 2009

Southend stunned Chelsea with a stoppage-time leveller at Stamford Bridge as the Shrimpers earned an FA Cup third-round replay with a 1-1 draw.

FOOTBALL 2008/09 FA Cup Southend's Peter Clarke scores last-minute equaliser to secure 1-1 draw and a third round replay against Chelsea - 0

Salomon Kalou's first-half goal looked to have earned Chelsea a place in the next round until Peter Clarke headed an equaliser from close range in the 90th minute for the League One minnows.

Chelsea had dominated the game but paid for a host of squandered chances by allowing an unmarked Clarke to beat Carlo Cudicini with a close-range header.

It was just reward for the Shrimpers who valiantly kept out Chelsea's wave of attacks in a pulsating second half.

But Chelsea's need for a first-class finisher was further underlined after an afternoon when they failed to kill off their lowly opponents.

Drogba should have put the Blues ahead in the 10th minute, but he waited too long to shoot and former Chelsea youngster Anthony Grant managed to get in a superb tackle to deny the Ivorian.

Joe Cole, Lampard and Drogba again went close as Chelsea struggled to find a chink in the Southend rearguard.

They eventually opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Kalou rose unmarked to head home a corner from Lampard.

After the break Drogba brought a fine save out of Mildenhall when he met a cross from John Obi Mikel. There was little respite for Steve Tilson's men as the chances kept on coming for the Blues, but the away side continued to defend valiantly inside their own penalty area.

In the 66th minute Belletti saw his header cleared off the goal-line as Southend began to show some attacking desire on the counter.

Inside the final 10 minutes Chelsea had a narrow escape when a cross from Johnny Herd was met by Clarke under pressure from Cudicini, the United defender getting to the ball first - his header bounced off the top of the crossbar.

However the defender then stunned Chelsea with a 90th-minute equaliser from close range before the hosts were denied a late winner by Mildenhall when he somehow kept out a header from substitute Franco Di Santo.

TeamTalk / Eurosport

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  1. gene you are by far the least funny person to grace planet earth.

    oh good, alcock is commenting as usual

    From yip, on Sat 3 Jan 8:23PM

  2. Sorry Big Phil she does say she only likes tall guys you may be out of luck unkess you put on your ehh high heels

    From Nicholas, on Sat 3 Jan 8:18PM

  3. it was a scrapy game we didnt ave are best players watch us in da replay
    markkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

    From markfootballcrazy, on Sat 3 Jan 8:17PM

  4. Very cold and very windy at the seaside in January but of course Southend are used to it.
    Could be quite interesting!

    From Nicholas, on Sat 3 Jan 8:15PM

  5. This is message from Luiz Felipe Scolari: Post #49 - You are ehh absolute idiot. You should be sacked from ehh message boards for ehh bad posting.

    With much ehh love,
    Big Phil

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sat 3 Jan 8:14PM

  6. This is message from Luiz Felipe Scolari: Post #41 - Let us hook up baby I am ehh World Cup winner. Post #39 - You are so ehh correct my friend, let us ehh not blame Big Phil.

    With much ehh love,
    Big Phil

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sat 3 Jan 8:12PM

  7. This is message from Luiz Felipe Scolari: Post #58 - Thank you for ehh your support but ehh to be honest I am better than just ok ehh I am World Cup winner. Post #57 - Yes I ehh tell John Terry to lay off ehh pork pies, now he is ehh sloppy and getting ehh red cards every couple weeks. And also ehh, two suitcases of cash instead of just the ehh one that you suggested would ehh help very much.

    With much ehh love,
    Big Phil

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sat 3 Jan 8:11PM

  8. I am manager of ehh Chelsea Football Club, I ehh do not post invalid comment.

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sat 3 Jan 8:04PM

  9. Well done chelsea I honestly excpected to loose by the odd goal before the match

    From Nicholas, on Sat 3 Jan 8:01PM

  10. Hello

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sat 3 Jan 7:59PM

  11. u rate me down i dont care; we are sayin' and @#$%' sayin' BRING BACK JOSE MOURINHO!!!

    From gunaxel88, on Sat 3 Jan 7:48PM

  12. I have no favourites but I keep telling you Chelsea fans that the team has an old look to it and there do not seem to be any academy players ready to come in or the manager would have tried them by now. You will have to buy and quickly. At the moment liverpool look the most likely to win the PL as MU cannot score and the balance is not right. Do not blame Scolari, he is OK, just get a few new players.

    From taff, on Sat 3 Jan 7:40PM

  13. Looks like too many seasonal pork pies for the blues again :-)

    Looks like Man City and Chelski need a bit more than a suitcase full of cash to sort their problems out :-)

    Well done Hammers, Forrest and the Robins ! :-)

    From art_tidesco, on Sat 3 Jan 7:37PM

  14. Chelsea terrible 1-1??

    From Nath, on Sat 3 Jan 7:34PM

  15. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    oh wait, sorry, i had something to say, so wait i didn't!
    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    From Jerry, on Sat 3 Jan 7:32PM

  16. Now you guys start to miss Grant. Scolari has no chance to repeat Grant's achievement.

    From Chong, on Sat 3 Jan 7:10PM

  17. no 48. call yourself a chelsea fan . "fans" ( and i use the term loosely) like you are embarassing . sack the manager ? get real ! who are you going to bring in ? as for bringing back the "special one", aint going to happen . you a "fan" predicting a 3-0 defeat at man u ? words fail me ! get the glory hunters out , embarassing !

    From clivinio, on Sat 3 Jan 7:07PM

  18. but please enough with the man utd are the best club when chelsea arsenal etc lose...its sad :(

    From schoie5, on Sat 3 Jan 7:02PM

  19. number 27 sums up man u "fans". how DO you pronounce penyus ?!

    From clivinio, on Sat 3 Jan 6:59PM

  20. come on southend look maybe its well it is luck southend to get a draw bt they did utd couple of years ago

    From essexace2007, on Sat 3 Jan 6:59PM
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