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The most memorable image of this match must be the contrast between the faces around me at half time and the elation on those same faces at the final whistle. We thought the game was up, we were on a slippery slope, and somehow our exciting and gifted team had forgotten how to play football and score goals. The irony of the situation was that it was Zola's removal, the man who has done so much to propel the side to the position we are in today, that marked the resurrection of our season.

We started well enough and looked in control, first Mark "Trade mark bicycle kick" Hughes should have scored with an easy header from an excellent Le Saux cross, the Zola inexplicably missed a volley with an open goal from no more than 3 yards. It looked a bad miss from our angle and the replay that was shown at half time showed it up as criminal - you have to ask what has happened to the little Italian who on this evidence, is unlikely to feature in France.

Coventry's goal was a typical example of old style Chelsea defending and summed up why we persistently struggle in this are. Dubbery had the chance to play a ball he collected inside the box, back to De Goey, who would have cleared, then he could have cleared it upfield, then he could have put it over the West Stand. Instead, he picked out a Coventry player who crossed the ball for Tellfer to easily trick Granville for the opener.

In truth, the defense seemed to spend most of the first half squabbling with one another, Le boeuf and Doobs having an ongoing slanging match, audible in the East Upper. Nothing much else to report for the rest of the half and we were mighty p****d of at the interval.

Granville disappeared at half time to be replaced by Nichols which plunged the mood into even deeper despair. However, this was to prove an inspired substitution. We looked better early in the second half, but moves kept breaking down on the edge of the Coventry penalty are, mostly with GFZ on the ball. Then 2 more substitutions were effected which settled the issue. We brought on Ruud and Coventry brought on an extra striker. We scored virtually immediately when another excellent Le Saux cross was powerfully headed in by Nichols, barely had we heard the end of the "I always said Nichols was a great player" conversations when he scored his second and what proved to be the winner. This time he volleyed in yet another le Saux Cross ( I think it is fair to Say the Boy from Guernsey enjoys playing in a back 5) and the place went nuts.

Prior to this turn around Coventry had almost scored when another defensive foul-up let in Huckkerby (I think) who shot low and wide. Up the other end a great move was started and finished by Di Matteo who found the top RH corner with a first time shot. After this we still had time for Nichols to miss his hatrick with his easiest chance of the afternoon and for Dubbery and Le Boeuf to nearly let in Coventry for their second. On balance though, we were the better more creative side and deserved the points.

De Goey; 7 ; Competent, could do nothing for their goal.
Le Saux; 9 ; Excellent service all afternoon, and looked up for it all afternoon.
Granville; 5.5; Not to clever and looked nervous
Le Bouef; 6.5; Read the game well as ever, but mistakes are creeping in to his game.
Duberry; 5.5; His worst game in a Blue shirt. Responsible for the goal and didn't seem to know what he was doing half the time
Wise;7.5; when you don't notice him is when he is most effective
Di Matteo; 7.5; Looked tired, but scored an excellent goal, still got through alot of work though
Lambourde; 8.5; just shaded by Le Saux for man of the match, kept us competitive when some looked like giving up.
Hughes; 7; Good dummy for the 3rd goal, quiet apart from that.
Clarke; 7; Had to struggle to remember he'd played, steady performance
Zola; 5; I think he needs a holiday or some time in therapy, perhaps he's been kidnapped by aliens. This is my theory about Sinclair, but the aliens have given us our old Frank Sinclair back now, so perhaps they'll do the same with Franco!!!!

Subs;
Nichols; 8; Apart from his goals, looked good and competitive Ruud; 6.5; no tangible impact but goals flowed the moment he walked onto the pitch.

Overall; 1/5 for the first half, 5/5 for the second ; total; 6/10

"What a difference a sub makes.." (Priesty)

After the purgatory of last weekend (even I, honours graduate from the School of Blind Optimism, realised we were going to lose when I saw the team sheet), we were hoping for a phoenix-like resurrection against Coventry to make up for it.

As it turned out, the boys decided to make us sweat for over an hour before they decided it was time to get it together, by which time I was telling everyone who'd listen that this was DEFINITELY the last game of football that I'd ever watch. Yes, it was that bad. To cap it all Chelsea let Coventry score a goal of such sublime awfulness that people actually laughed with disbelief.

I didn't think it was possible that a team that the pundits were only 2 weeks ago calling "plausible title contenders" could descend to such depths of mediocrity, but the boys set about proving me wrong at every opportunity. By half time I was wishing we were back in the eighties, watching Ian Britton shoot from ten yards for a throw-in. At least then you knew it didn't get any better than that.

The half-time Bovril revived my optimism slightly, I thought that maybe things would improve to the point that we wouldn't let any more goals in during the second half, but that was about as far as it went.

The trouble is that, without being unfair to Coventry, they are really shite. They've only got one decent player, Dublin, and he wants to piss off. That little shit Strachan wore a hole in the touchline complaining about every single thing that happened on the pitch, and I'm pretty sure he'd have bitched about the tea at half time, too. Silly little c**t. He gets right up my bell-end.

All this made it even harder to face the fact that Chelsea had let a team of no-hopers go one up against us, and I was praying for a miracle by the start of the second half. Luckily, someone up there must have heard, and Ruud made two crucial substitutions, Nicholls for Granville at half time, and the man himself just on the hour for FZ, who'd had, for him, a quiet game.. I don't know if it's coincidence, but Chelsea only started playing after Ruud came on; usually the opposition can be relied on to score within minutes of Ruud coming on as sub!

The game changed completely - within minutes Graeme Le Saux, who had an excellent game, had whipped in a cross for Nicholls to glance past Hedman. It was such a simple goal, the annoying thing was that we hadn't done it for over an hour against this weak opposition. Within minutes he'd done it again, again from a Le Saux cross, but it's worth mentioning the way Lambourde had won the ball in midfield, then put Le Saux through with a stunning pass. Man of the Match was between those two players, it's about time Lambourde got a run in the side.

Ten minutes later Robbie scored a peach of a goal into the top right corner after an intelligent dummy by Hughes, which gave him, by Premiership standards, an age to pick his spot. As soon as he received the ball I knew he'd score; there was no one near him, and players of that calibre don't need a second invitation. It was the perfect finale to an otherwise frustrating afternoon, and gave us the chance to take the piss out of the Coventry lot, who'd accused us of being "worse than United", which, considering they'd done Man U a week earlier, was probably true, but you just don't need it, do you ? Full marks to them for loyally following that shower, though - I know from bitter experience how they must feel !

Overall, the defence was disappointing, Duberry for once seemed uncertain, and was arguing with Beefy for most of the match. I reckon old Frankie was sorely missed. It was nice to have Den back, I'm certain that if he'd played against Man U we wouldn't have looked so poor against them. Other players worth a mention were Clarkey, who was magnificent - in the first half, he looked the player most likely to score, his intelligent running and uncompromising defending made some of the younger players look a bit sad. Land De Goey is to be praised for not falling asleep at his post (forgive the pun), plus he's very good at distributing the ball quickly and acccurately. He's also surprisingly quick to get down on the deck for a tall geezer.

Second place in the league is not so bad. There's been so much optimism and expectation around that it's easy to forget what Chelsea have achieved in the last three years. Going out in the first round of the Cup may prove to be a blessing in disguise, really hard though it is to swallow. Let's hope we can expunge the memory by doing the Arse in the Coke Cup...