Chelsea 3-0 Nottingham Forest
| DECIDE FOR YOURSELF Some say the FA Cup is a leveller but that was not the case at Stamford Bridge. Forest, third in League One, never got going and failed to put the Blues under much pressure. Before they could find their feet, Forest found themselves a goal down when Shevchenko followed up his midweek brace against Wycombe to fire in from five yards, thanks to massive deflection off John Curtis. Chelsea, who rarely stepped up into third gear, went two up when the influential Drogba, curled in his 22nd goal of the season from a 25-yard free-kick. Unlike League Two outfit Wycombe, Forest did not compensate for their individual inferiority with much-needed collective bite. Consequently Lassana Diarra was allowed to control matters in the middle allowing Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Obi to roam. And roam they did. With Wright-Phillips seeing his snatched shot inside the area go fractionally wide, while Lampard had two efforts from the edge of the box blocked by the Forest defence. However, the third member of the trio, Obi, did get some reward when he poked in the second after Lampard's corner deflected off Forest defender Julian Bennett and keeper Smith. Whatever gameplan Forest boss Colin Calderwood conjured up before the match had to be changed at the break. The Scot introduced Sammy Clingan for Grant Holt and the tweak seemed to have some positive effect with the famous Nottingham side enjoying a good spell at the start of the half. Their best chance of the game came when Junior Agogo eluded his marker at the edge of the area to fire his shot across the face of the Chelsea goal. But after that bright moment, Chelsea came out their brief slumber. Lampard had a shot saved by Smith's leg, Shevchenko rifled two shots wide from inside the area, while Michael Essien had his powerful header saved on the line by Curtis. By this time the contest was over, giving Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho the luxury of giving 16-year-old Michael Woods his first taste of FA Cup football. £500 FREE. For YOU to play with. NO deposit required. WON'T cost you a thing. Sounds TOO good to be true? DECIDE FOR YOURSELF |
