Half time:  Newcastle 0 Chelsea 0

Full time: Newcastle 0 Chelsea 0

100mins A poor throw in from us in our own half, the loss of possession and a quick ball across the edge of our box. Gudjohnsen banged home a low shot via the upright, with another couple of colleagues waiting beyond him to do the same. In a word, deadly. 0-1

112mins A solo run from Robben who left O'Brien and Bramble in his wake as he tore into the left hand side of our penalty area and expertly slotted his angled shot past Given despite Bramble tugging his right arm. 0-2

AET: Newcastle 0 Chelsea 2

Souness commented:

"I thought Titus was excellent but Ronnie deserves praise as well. The pair of them have certainly given me a headache ahead of the Manchester United match.

"I was always confident Ronnie would come through a difficult test and last the full match against a team of Chelsea's quality. He might have disagreed but the evidence was there for all to see.

"As for Titus - there's so much to like about him and if he can concentrate for 90 minutes every week then he's a real football player and a real asset.

Right-back is not Andy's favourite position but he came up against two of the most talented wingers in Europe and did not disappoint."

"I had a conversation with Titus before the game and I said 'Look, if I'm playing against you I know I can't run away from you' There's very few can, although Robben did, but I think he's an exception.

"I said 'There's not anyone out there that can out-muscle you, so how am I going to get joy against you? What I'm relying on is you being less than fully concentrated for 90 minutes'.

"I think that's been a failing for Titus in the past, and if he is going to fulfil everything that God has given him - all those attributes that God has given him - then he's going to have to get from somewhere that ability to concentrate for 90 minutes.

"He's only young, and maybe playing with Ronny Johnsen helped him. But it's no good doing it one in every three games or every other game. At this level, you have to do it in every game, because the best defenders are the ones who make the fewest mistakes."

Olivier Bernard added:

"Our two centre-halves played a good game, and especially Titus, who did very well. He made a big impact and now it's up to the gaffer to select him for Sunday.

"But we've got a big squad. As for Ronny, it was his second game - and he did very well for us. That proves our squad is strong enough to be in the top four. Titus is strong, and Ronny's got the experience - so I think it's a good partnership."

"We did play well; we kept the ball all night and just in the end we suffered those two goals which we didn't deserve, so we're very disappointed. Now it's gone, and we just have to look ahead to Manchester United on Sunday.

"We didn't deserve to lose. They've got a good strong squad, and so do we. But I think we just missed the chances to score again like on Sunday so we're quite disappointed at the minute. But we'll bounce back. We know we played good football, so that's a good point. We're disappointed, but not down. For me, we looked a better team and we shouldn't have lost that game."

Chelsea boss Mourinho said:

"O'Brien and Bramble played fantastically. They did a fantastic job. I never saw Bramble play so well.

"But to play two hours against Kezman, against Duff at a high pace, and later on, I played Gudjohnsen and Robben when they were tired. Robben is the type of player who gives no chance in those situations. 

"When I played them, it was just to kill the game."

An absorbing rather than enthralling tie and the antithesis of the last home game against West London opposition. But when newspaper reports after a match describe you as "plucky" you just know that the next word is going to be "losers."

And while we did improve substantially from Sunday- at least for ninety minutes - there was always a sneaking feeling that the visitors weren't going at full throttle and could step it up at any time - or bring on reinforcements. 

We, by contrast, had our foot hard down on the floor and had run out of energy by the end, wilting again in extra time - which is a perpetual problem for us, never mind penalties. 

And had we gone a goal ahead, that would have surely precipitated the the appearance of some of the leading lights to come on and do enough to win the tie. 

As it was, our best game plan was probably to score as late as possible to give Chelsea little time to change their lineup, then stonewall through to the final whistle by taking the ball into the corners - maybe that was why Shearer was left on the field despite contributing very little, save for shouting at the match officials....

If anything the surprise was that Mourinho left Gudjohnsen on the bench until extra time, given his potency in front of goal - especially our goal. An earlier appearance from the Icelandic hitman could well have seen this disposed of within 90 minutes.

At that stage we had built up something of a head of steam as we tried to elude the massed ranks of blue in front of the Gallowgate goal, but Terry and Co. kept us at bay and save for one moment when Shearer and Kluivert both had close-range efforts, we were reduced to relying on the dead ball skills of Robert. 

Unfortunately he wasn't able to summon up a delivery sufficiently lethal to beat Cudicini, despite a couple of decent free kick efforts. And with that failure, our best chance slipped away, as we were unable to repeat Sunday's pressure in front of goal and Cudicini consequently wasn't called upon to do a Crossley.

The appearance of Dyer at half time also seemed to hint at lack of ideas on the part of the manager, who picked him for service after one reserve appearance and in the process overlooked Milner from even a place on the bench - a trifle unfair.

But if he was desperately seeking something from Dyer, who repaid him with the performance of someone feeling their way back after fitness, then the manager will have been left stone-faced by the meagre contributions of his front pair.

Neither Shearer nor Kluivert did much, but the latter did it more stylishly, with a non-contact soft shoe shuffle that offended no-one. 

At least Al was trying to ruffle the feathers of the backline, although with the equally plodding Desailly gone, there was hardly a chance to reprise his success of last season against Chelsea on the same ground. 

However that's another chance of silverware gone for the number nine and it has to be said with a whimper rather than a shout - Shearer currently cuts a sad figure on the field and isn't contributing to our case. We've seen him like this before and he's rallied himself, but we're forced to question whether he's gone down for the last time (and not got a free kick....)  

With Bellamy shunted out wide and never able to get close enough to goal to draw vital fouls, we needed something tangible from Kluivert, to hurt the opposition. Unfortunately he barely featured - hardly the display of a player of whom criticism has been levelled that he's something of a big game charlie. Hopefully he's keeping his powder dry for the Reds.

There was a small measure of satisfaction we more solid defensively than on Sunday, with Bramble playing well in the heart of the backline alongside Johnsen, whose inherent fitness allowed him to keep going for two hours - compare this to the younger Kluivert who is still not match fit, so we're led to believe.  

Jenas also had a decent game when restored to his favoured centre midfield role as Bowyer was dropped, while concussion saw Butt go off at half time - which may possibly have saved him from a second red card of the season.

Of course we're perpetual underachievers in this competition, but the arrival of a man whose only recent trophy success was winning the thing at Blackburn plus last season's success down the A19 seemed to have brought this competition back into vogue a wee bit - certainly neither side could be accused of fielded a weakened team, the difference being that Chelsea just fielded a different one....    

The post-match statements of Souness though didn't make for comforting reading - his assertion that he didn't pick sides because of worrying about who was in the opposition ranks doesn't hold water - he publicly stated the opposite view when taking credit for beating Southampton after putting Jenas wide to block Fernandes and was quick to assert Bernard was left out at Bolton to allow for more height at the back, not because he'd stalled on a new contract.

His mention of our level of performance being enough to beat both teams wasn't really valid either - we couldn't match Fulham or Bolton and it's arguable that another half dozen teams in the Premiership are as competent as this Chelsea side (and we play most of those teams before January.)

So "most teams" suddenly become the bottom half of the league, which puts us in about 10th spot - or lower, unless we devise a way to win matches without scoring goals. Hardly compatible with Souness's "reach for the stars" utterances of recent weeks and his constant references to us being a big club.

Mind, his most unbelievable pronouncement was about the loyalty of the fans on Sunday, which appeared in his programme column for this match. We think he meant that those who stayed until the end didn't boo, but it seems strange to be singling out the crowd for praise when a good 15,000 walked out in disgust with upwards of 20 minutes remaining. 

In the absence of a victory then, we're forced to content ourselves with the evidence of our eyes - that we were the better of the two teams for much of this match, but lacked the ability to press home that advantage, then paid the price when the Chelsea tribute act was augmented by the real turns. Pretty cold comfort really. 

Bring on the reds, he said without any conviction at all.....come on lads, nil desperandum, keep trying.

Biffa

Reports