Stoke City...0 Chelsea...2Those who suspect fragility in Chelsea's make-up do a disservice to Claudio Ranieri's players. Having dulled the romanticism of Shrewsbury's adventure in the fourth round, their nerve was tested again yesterday with the same outcome. Whatever the television companies may think, Chelsea are unwilling to play the fall guy.
"There have been doubts in the past about how we play against smaller sides," said Graeme Le Saux, their outstanding performer. "But I think we deserve to put them to bed now."
That is not to say Chelsea touched their most exhilarating peaks in dispatching a side second from bottom of the First Division and with only four home victories all season, or even went close. For long, uninspired periods Ranieri's players struggled to emphasise the gulf in status between the clubs.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's lackadaisical performance hardly suggested he was enthralled with the idea of a freezing Sunday afternoon in the Potteries.
Yet the Dutchman clearly has an acute sense of timing and his 11th goal of a difficult season succeeded in deflating Stoke just as they were starting to believe the visiting side might be vulnerable.
Carlo Cudicini had just been forced to muddy his knees for the first time, saving a powerful free-kick from Lewis Neal, when Le Saux instigated a quick attacking thrust from defence. His pass for Frank Lampard was slightly too far in front of the midfielder as he loped into the penalty area, but Marcus Hall's intervention succeeded only in knocking the ball into the path of Hasselbaink who scored with an assured finish.
From that point onwards an air of inevitability descended over the stadium, with Stoke devoid of the attacking ideas to trouble a Chelsea defence superbly marshalled by John Terry and William Gallas.
"We had a go but Chelsea are a really good team and it wouldn't surprise me if they went all the way," said the Stoke manager Tony Pulis.
A few minutes after O'Connor had fired Stoke's best opportunity for an equaliser into the Boothen End, the hosts squandered possession outside the Chelsea area and Jesper Gronkjaer hared away from Hall before slashing a venomous, rising shot beyond Steve Banks.
Guardian Service
STOKE: Banks, Thomas, Handyside, Shtanuk, Marcus Hall, Henry (Gudjonsson 56), O'Connor, Gunnarsson, Neal (Marteinsson 79), Iwelumo, Greenacre (Goodfellow 79). Subs Not Used: Cutler, Wilson. Booked: Marcus Hall.
CHELSEA: Cudicini, Melchiot, Terry, Gallas, Le Saux, Stanic (Cole 87), Lampard, Petit (Huth 84), De Lucas (Gronkjaer 61), Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen. Subs Not Used: Evans, Zenden. Goals: Hasselbaink 52, Gronkjaer 76.
Referee: R Styles (Hampshire).
