CHELSEA 2 STOKE CITY 1
Stamford Bridge
Barclays Premier League
January 17, 2009

CITY'S hearts were broken after a last ditch double cruelly denied them what would have been an outstanding victory at Stamford Bridge.

Rory Delap's 60th minute strike looked enough to secure a first win at the Bridge for 35 years, but with just three minutes remaining the hosts turned the game on its head.

Firstly substitute Juliano Belletti rose at the back post to nod home the leveller, before Frank Lampard marked his 400th career appearance with a thunderous strike in the last minute of stoppage time to nick all three points and leave the brave City squad absolutely distraught.

Tony Pulis handed James Beattie his debut ahead of the clash as he partnered Richard Cresswell up front, with Dave Kitson dropping down to the bench.

The hosts suffered a major blow minutes before the two teams made their way onto the pitch with the news that John Terry had picked up an injury during the pre-match warm up.

Brazilian international defender Alex was brought in by Phil Scolari as his replacement while youngster Gael Kakuta was drafted onto the bench for the first time in his career.

Within one minute of the game getting under way the Potters were unfortunate not to have been in the lead. A trademark Rory Delap long throw-in was glanced goalwards by Blues defender Alex, and despite looping over Petr Cech the ball dropped inches wide of the left hand post.

From the resulting corner Abdoulaye Faye rose highest to power Matthew Etherington's ball towards goal but his effort flew just over from 7-yards.

The hosts soon got into the swing of things though and almost took the lead themselves after five minutes. Premier League leading scorer Nicolas Anelka was cutely played through but after rounding Thomas Sorensen, Andy Wilkinson did well to track back and force the Frenchman out to the byline.

- Andy Wilkinson put in a commanding performance in defence as City fought bravely against the title-chasers -

Minutes later the former Arsenal star was at the heart of the action again, however, after doing well to out pace the City backline he dragged his effort wide of the goal from 20-yards.

Amdy Faye was booked for a late challenge on Michael Ballack just after the quarter hour mark, and he was lucky to escape a second yellow minutes later for another clumsy tackle on Florent Malouda.

That prompted Pulis to make his first change of the afternoon as Danny Pugh came on as his replacement to ensure the Potters kept eleven men on the field.

Denmark number one Sorensen was forced into producing an outstanding save midway through the first half to thwart Anelka, while he again had to be at his best to deny the impressive striker from close range moments later.

Pulis was forced into his second substitution of the half in the 34th minute as Higginbotham limped off with what appeared to be a calf injury. Captain Andy Griffin came on as his replacement.

- David Kitson chases down Alex in an attempt to win the ball -

Sorensen again continued to keep Chelsea at bay with an outstanding double save to deny firstly Ashley Cole and then Frank Lampard right on the stroke of half time.

The second half continued in more or less the same way, but the Potters back line continued to stand strong as the hosts laid siege to the 18-yard box.

Portuguese star Jose Bosingwa set off on a darting run down the left flank, but after cutting inside Andy Wilkinson he drilled his effort wide of the goal, with Ballack free inside the penalty area.

The Potters to their credit tried to play football when they got the chance and following a free-flowing twenty pass move Danny Pugh fired across a dangerous ball into the penalty area, which Ricardo Carvalho cleared with Delap waiting in the wings to tap the ball home.

- Rory Delap shocks the Bridge by exquisitely firing the Potters into the lead -

Five minutes later though the Portuguese international defender could do nothing to prevent the Potters taking the lead, much to the delight of the travelling City supporters.

Andy Wilkinson's long punt forward was excellently controlled by Beattie, who then swivelled to feed through Delap and after he shrugged off the advances of Carvalho, he pulled of a sublime finish to dink the ball over the advancing Cech to shock Stamford Bridge.

'Big Phil' Scolari looked shell shocked, and when England star Lampard continued to spurn numerous chances it looked like it was to be the Potters' day.

However, a trio of substitutions from the Brazilian who masterminded a world cup victory for his native country, would prove to undo all City's hard work in the most heart-breaking fashion.

- Juliano Belletti agonisingly heads the hosts level before Frank Lampard breaks City's hearts minutes later -

Firstly Ashley Cole's whipped ball into the penalty area was met by the head of Franco Di Santo, who played the ball across goal and straight into the path of fellow substitute Juliano Belletti to head home from 3 yards with just two minutes remaining.

The goal breathed fresh life into the hosts, and when the fourth official indicated four minutes of stoppage time, the crowd really began to make some noise.

A clever ball from Lampard in the third minute of added time freed Miroslav Stoch inside the penalty area, but after dancing past Griffin his effort was comfortably parried away by Sorensen, before a pack of City players chased the ball down to clear from danger.

With whistles from the visiting contingent continuing to be blown as the end of the game neared, up popped Lampard in typical fashion to cruelly smash the ball home with just seconds of the game remaining to send City home undeservedly empty handed.