20 February 2006, by Mark Simpson

Ferreira on mark for misfiring Chelsea

Chelsea 3-1 Colchester United - FA Cup 5th Round

Suspension, Injuries and players being rested led to a much-changed Chelsea side for the meeting with Colchester United - the first competitive meeting in both clubs’ long history.

Three Portuguese stars made the starting line up, Ferreira, Carvalho and Maniche, and two of them were to have a big impact on the game.

The first chance of the match fell to Wright-Phillips for Chelsea. He twisted and turned to good effect to work himself into the box, but the keeper comfortably saved a low shot. Colchester were making chances themselves and a long throw caught the Chelsea defence static but the cross was well cleared by Huth.

Duguid lofted a long ball to the far post a couple of minutes later which Ferreira seemed to think was heading out of play, but the Colchester left back Yeates arrived behind the Portugal right-back and struck a low shot past the goalkeeper captain Cudicini, with the ball striking the far post and ricocheting clear.

If this was a warning to Chelsea it was not heeded as the next Colchester break down the right wing saw a neat one-two find Garcia in the clear. His cross was met by a sliding Carvalho to put the ball past his own keeper and give Colchester a deserved lead.

Ferreira breaks Chelsea duck

The next passage of play all centred around Ferreira. He broke forward twice and had shots stopped by the keeper and then received a yellow card. Nine minutes after Colchester had taken the lead a Chelsea corner was headed on by Carvalho and clipped in neatly by that man Paulo Ferreira for his first Chelsea goal.

The second half saw Chelsea wheel out the big guns. Maniche and Diarra were replaced by Frank Lampard and Joe Cole. The Colchester defence was immediately starting to be opened up by Lampard’s range of passing.

Damien Duff dribbled his way to the bye line and pulled back a perfect cross to find Drogba six metres out, but the African cup finalist managed to head wide when it looked easier to score.

A minute later Carvalho could count himself lucky to stay on the pitch, as he appeared to pull back on Garcia as the Colchester man looked like he was about to run clear of the Chelsea defence.

After 69 minutes Duff was replaced by Crespo and Chelsea were all out attack. A crisp Crespo 25-metre effort had the keeper floundering and the rebound fell to Joe Cole who brought the ball down and slotted home from six metres.

It took until the 92nd minute for Chelsea to close out the tie. Joe Cole once again mesmerised the defenders with some great ball skill and the final shot from the edge of the box into the corner of the net was pure class.

A fantastic effort by Colchester United, but it is Chelsea who find themselves in the quarterfinals after a 3-1 victory.