Dennis Wise - the cleanest man in football (early baths galore)

My first match for three weeks due to holidays turned out to be an eventful one, with six goals, a sending off and plenty of laughs (intentional and otherwise). There are few things in life as rewarding as seeing your team come back from 1-0 down to 4-1 up, even against supposedly inferior opposition, so all things taken into consideration I felt pretty good by the end. Unfortunately a couple of things along the way tended to detract from the enjoyment of the evening.

The game started in familiar fashion, with Chelsea failing dismally to take the initiative from the start, and it wasn't long before Oxford made us pay, forcing a corner which was somehow forced over the line in, I'm told, an almost identical manner to the one they scored at their place. We were stunned but not particularly surprised by the goal, it had been on the cards from the beginning. Luckily blind optimism is one of my failings, so it wasn't long before my equilibrium was restored.

The boys gradually started to get back into the match with some promising running off the ball and some good passing, but the final touch was always lacking until Beefy produced one of his spot-on perfect defence-splitting passes to the lively Zola, who mesmerised the Oxford defence before planting an inch perfect pass in the path of Dennis Wise, who gratefully slotted the ball past the stranded Oxford keeper.

As you're probably aware by now, I'm not much on statistics, but it's worth mentioning that it was Franco Zola's 100th appearance for Chelsea last night. Seldom can Chelsea have made a more valuable signing than Zola, who in my opinion is the best player in the Premiership and beyond. Respect is due. The other statistic that's worth noting is that Den's goal was the first scored by an English player this season. Pity he didn't hang around a bit longer to savour it...

Chelsea kept up the pressure relentlessly, and just before half time the second goal came, courtesy of one Franco Zola, who was put through on the right wing with only the keeper to beat. In typical style, he calmly chipped the ball over the keeper, and it duly went in off the far post. A marvellous and deceptively simple goal from a master.

Chelsea, surprisingly perhaps, came out positively right from the start of the second half, and within a minute seventeen year old Mikael Forssell had latched on to a poor back-pass, and his shot from an acute angle resulted in his first goal for Chelsea, on his home debut. Things got even better ten minutes later, as he latched on to a great pass from Beefy and duly rifled the ball home again from 25 yards, leaving the keeper standing. We went mental, needless to say. (Thanks to Phil Kirkham for the correction - booze and old age tend to cloud my memory...)

It's worth singling out Beefy for praise here, he was superb. His long passes remind me of Glenn Hoddle at his best (i.e. when he was a football player !), and his defensive work gets stronger all the time. After he was subbed in favour of Jon Terry it was noticeable how quickly Oxford got back on terms, having been no danger previously.

The substitutions of Beefy, Di Matteo and Forssell to keep them fresh for future games very nearly cost us dear. The team seemed to lose direction and nervousness crept in, and Oxford were only too happy to take advantage. During one of their forays, Dennis Wise decided it was time to liven up the proceedings by diving full length to save a shot that may or may not have gone in. As he'd already been booked in the first half for hand ball, it was a doubly stupid thing to do, and it inevitably resulted in his sending off and a penalty, which Oxford's amusingly-named Windass gratefully banged home in Leboeuf style. I'm not going to say anything else about it, except that I hope Den hasn't cost us the Championship by getting another lengthy ban - we're short enough of quality players up front as it is..

Oxford played their joker too early, as it turned out. They had used all their subs before Paul Tait had to go off with a facial injury, so their numerical advantage was immediately cancelled out. To general amusement from the Chelsea fans Oxford had stuck on their basketball player Francis, who'd given away the penalty in the first leg. He got a better round of applause from Chelsea than he did from his own fans, and proceeded to keep us all in stitches for the rest of the game. Seldom can there have been a player of such small talent allied to such a stunningly huge frame - he must be at least six foot eight, and was hilariously bad. Thanks a lot for the entertainment.

A mention should go to the Oxford fans: they sang and cheered their team even when they were 4-1 down, and could teach some Premiership clubs' fans a thing or two about loyalty. Superbly, they sang "You're not singing any more" when they scored the penalty to come back to 4-2 down, a perfect example of the exuberant refusal to admit defeat that good fans should always manifest. I salute you...

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