6 March 2006, by Mark Simpson

Touchline feud fails to halt Chelsea’s march to title

West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Chelsea

A 1-2 away victory for Chelsea moved Mourinho’s men 18 points clear at the top of the Premiership. A sending off, a touchline feud and countless other talking points added up to a feisty affair at the Hawthorns.

After an impeccable minute’s silence for the late Chelsea legend Peter Osgood, the first half of this encounter showed little to what lay in store for the second half.

The only two real chances of the first half fell to WBA - a header from Campbell gathered by Cech and a smart lob by Kozak, which landed on the roof of the Chelsea goal.

The lack of incident in the first half was certainly made up for in the second. Chelsea arrived back on the pitch three minutes late for the second period much to the discontent of the West Brom manager Bryan Robson, and a couple of words from Mourinho only added to his frustration.

Within five minutes Chelsea were ahead. Drogba latched onto a loose ball and managed to keep four defenders at bay and fire a low shot from the edge of the box past the keeper.

Mourinho sarcasm

On the hour Arjen Robben was sent off for the second time this season. A mistimed challenge looked likely to be a yellow card, but after the WBA players chased after the referee, in particular Robinson, he seemed to be influenced into stronger punishment. This led to sarcastic applause from Mourinho and a further confrontation between the managers.

A third exchange of words was to ensue moments later between Robson and Mourinho after a 50-50 challenge left Drogba writhing on the deck with no action taken.

Joe Cole replaced Duff and England’s midweek hero almost scored straight away with a fine drag back and a shot curling just over the bar. Cole was to score in the 75th minute when an exchange of passes with Drogba led to a deflected shot beating the keeper, to put Chelsea two up. Mourinho celebrated in exhuberant style in front of the West Brom dug out.

Kanu pulled one back for WBA late on either side of two penalty claims for the home side which were waved away.

A 1-2 victory for Chelsea, which Chelsea captain dedicated to Peter Osgood. RIP Peter.


WBA:
Kuszcrak, Albrectsen, (Watson, 82), Curtis, Davies, Clement, Robinson, Greening, Wallwork, Kozak, Inamoto (Ellington, 71), Kamara, Campbell (Kanu, 71)

Chelsea:
Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Huth, Gallas, Essien, Makalele, Gudjohnsen (Geremi, 73), Robben, Drogba (Wright-Phillips, 85), Duff (Cole, 63)

Goals:
[0-1] Drogba, 51
[0-2] Cole, 74
[1-2] Kanu, 88