Southend Tie Chelsea With Last Gasp Equaliser

Salomon Kalou opened the scoreline after half an hour of play, and Chelsea held onto their lead for an hour and seemed likely to progress to the fourth round, only for Peter Clarke to nip in and grab an equalizing goal to send the 6,000 traveling Southend fans into raptures!

Chelsea manager Luis Felipe Scolari signalled his intent for this competition with his team selection. By naming a strong starting eleven with a bench that was supplemented with - Nicolas Anelka aside - youngsters and reserves, it was clear that the Brazilian World Cup winner wanted to wrap the tie up by the second half, and then throw on a few of the kids in order to give them a run out.

The FA Cup though has a habit of forcing managers to alter their plans, and this encounter at Stamford Bridge was to prove no different.

The fixture started cagey, with no real shots of note taking place in the opening ten minutes or so. There was a lot of hustle, as both teams tried to figure the other out, but Chelsea nearly found an opener in the 12th minute had it not been for Sankofa's stubborn last ditch defending that denied Didier Drogba a chance on goal after some great playmaking by Frank Lampard.

Lampard was to prove one of Chelsea's great performers with some great passing, and sound build-up play, for the majority of the game's proceedings. His delivery from set play was also to prove influential as it was his corner that led to Salomon Kalou's header on goal that broke the deadlock on 31 minutes.

Southend's ability of keeping hold of the ball throughout the half was often questioned, and they failed - as a collective unit - to keep possession, and ended up relinquishing the ball more often than not.

The second half started more promising for the team from Essex, and a darting run from attack-minded midfielder Stanislas marked their intent on the 50th minute, as Belletti tracked back in an attempt to nullify the forward motion.

Herd kept the visitors in the match when he cleared the ball off the line in the with little over 20 minutes to go. Frank Lampard - again from the corner - swung in a cross that Bellitti obligingly met only to be denied by the young stubborn defender.

Southend had a chance to level the tie late in the second half, on the 82nd minute mark, when Steve Clarke smashed the ball against the frame of the goal after some good work from Herd.

However, that was not to prove the last piece of defining drama. Clarke made amends for not finishing off his chance ten minutes earlier as, in stoppage time, he slotted the ball into the net after a Herd throw in led to a decisive flick on from Barnard.

LINE UP

Chelsea: Cudicini - Ferreira; Carvalho; Ivanovic; Ashley Cole - Belletti; Lampard; Mikel; Joe Cole - Kalou, Drogba.

Subs: Hilario, Di Santo, Sinclair, Mineiro, Anelka, Mancienne, Sawyer.

Southend: Mildenhall, Sankofa, Clarke, Barrett, Herd, Grant, Christophe, McCormack, Stanislas, Barnard, Revell.

Subs: Joyce, Francis, Moussa, Freedman, Betsy, Laurent, O'Keefe.