SOCCER/Chelsea 4 Wycombe 0 (Chelsea win 5-1 on aggregate):These have been a testing few weeks for Chelsea but, although they have been humbled enough of late, they were not to be humiliated.
Wycombe might have beaten Fulham and Charlton on their way to the semi-finals, but the Premiership champions were too good for them last night in a match that was always fiercely contested, but never much of a contest.
Jose Mourinho has had to get used to some unfamiliar and unwelcome emotions during this period of relative turmoil, but as of last night he can enjoy one that is more familiar - once again his team are overwhelming favourites to win a trophy.
More galling for the Portuguese, perhaps, is the part that was played in this victory by Andriy Shevchenko. His two goals in the first half did much to earn this victory, leaving Frank Lampard's brace in the second half to embellish it. But if Chelsea's win was predictable, so was the resistance offered by a brilliantly committed Wycombe side.
Even in times of relative crisis the visit of a League Two also-ran should allow the Premiership champions an opportunity to relax and have some fun. But, perhaps mindful that Chelsea had already failed to beat their opponents once, Mourinho opened his programme notes with a phrase that summed up his approach both to this game and to this difficult stage of his third season in west London. "Good evening," he wrote. "Tonight we continue our struggle."
It seemed an unnecessarily dour introduction to a game that always seemed likely to end with his side celebrating a place in next month's final in Cardiff. But, as Chelsea discovered in the first leg two weeks ago, Paul Lambert's side were certain to struggle themselves.
Within the opening five minutes last night Lassana Diarra became the first to find Tommy Mooney's muscular approach to forward play unsettling, a moment's hesitation from Michael Ballack saw him dispossessed by Tommy Doherty, and Will Antwi earned the first and most obvious booking of the evening with an eye-watering challenge on Didier Drogba.
Having worked so hard to unsettle their opponents, Wycombe then handed them the opening goal. Doherty was to blame with a mystifying misplaced pass under absolutely no pressure that was aimed at Russell Martin but found the feet of Shevchenko. The Ukrainian scampered clear to score.
With only one win in five league matches since Christmas, culminating in Saturday's morale-crushing disappointment against Liverpool, there had been little for Chelsea to cheer of late. Which might explain why Stamford Bridge was so quick to acclaim the striker after his goal. His manager might shun him, but Shevchenko has friends here still.
The striker might not always provoke Mourinho into a shake of the hand, but last night he inspired his manager to pump his fists with released tension.
Shevchenko's second, shortly before half-time, might finally have calmed his manic manager. Drogba's chipped pass was deflected into striker's path and, once in possession, unmarked in the penalty area, his finish was emphatic.
At that point even the most optimistic of Wycombe fans - and there were 6,000 of those here last night - might have been tempted to give up. But the team remained up for the fight.
In first-half stoppage time Petr Cech made his first save of note when he claimed Kevin Betsy's cross from the feet of Jermaine Easter. Then, as the teams walked off for the interval, Doherty and Ballack squared up to each other at the entrance to the tunnel.
It had been a frustrating first half for the German, who failed to impose himself on the game for sustained periods and also had to watch the one player whose price tag and consequent travails since arriving last summer dwarfed even his own having a comparably enjoyable evening. Shortly after the interval Shevchenko reached the byline and pulled back for Lampard, who sidefooted wide of the near post.
Martin's free-kick bounced off Cech but fell to Ricardo Carvalho rather than Mooney, but Chelsea broke decisively. The substitute Sergio Torres tussled for possession with Shevchenko, the ball looped into Lampard's path and he took it past the goalkeeper and the backtracking Sam Stockley to tap home. In the dying seconds Lampard added another, tapping in Drogba's pull-back from six yards.
CHELSEA:Cech, Diarra, Carvalho, Essien, Ashley Cole (Morais 84), Makelele, Mikel, Lampard, Ballack (Wright-Phillips 84), Drogba, Shevchenko (Kalou 84). Subs not used:Hilario, Bridge. Booked:Essien, Ashley Cole.
WYCOMBE WANDERERS:Batista, Martin, Antwi (Stockley 60), Williamson, Golbourne, Betsy, Doherty, Oakes (Anya 83), Bloomfield (Torres 65), Mooney, Easter. Subs not used:Young, Palmer. Booked:Antwi.
Referee: M Dean(Wirral).
