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Chelsea	1 - 0	Newcastle United
Half time:	0 - 0
Score Sheet:
Hasselbaink (90)
	Teams
Cudicini Melchiot Babayaro Gallas Terry Lampard Jokanovic Dalla Bona Le Saux Gudjohnsen Hasselbaink		Given Hughes Elliott O'Brien Dabizas Bernard Speed Solano Lee Shearer Bellamy
Substitutes:
Stanic for Jokanovic (45) Zenden for Le Saux (69) Zola for Gudjohnsen (77)		Dyer for Bernard (71) LuaLua for Solano (90) Ameobi for Lee (90)
Subs not used:
de Goey Forssell		Harper Distin
Bookings:
Terry (20) Babayaro (41)		Bellamy (20) Bernard (43) Dabizas (75)
Sendings off:
None		None
Referee: David Elleray (Harrow-on-the-Hill). Another bloody know-all from the South East, who could have taken a bus to Stamford Bridge to officiate at this match. In the same way as D'Urso from Billericay shouldn't have done our game at Charlton, Elleray shouldn't have done this one. Wouldn't have happened in the "old days."
Attendance: 27,613. Chelsea stayed at home, watched it on the telly sang the toon fans, wide-open spaces in many home areas confirming that counter-attractions of late night shopping, watching drag acts in pubs and peering through Nigella Lawson's curtains were deemed a more valid use of an evening that turning out to watch ones' team. Out of interest this was the lowest ever crowd for a Cup tie between the two sides. Newcastle were allocated both sides of the tunnel in the main stand for the first time in living memory.

Half time: Chelsea 0 Newcastle 0

90 mins:  A moment of thoughtlessness from Solano, a break down the left and cross from Zenden, the arrival of Hasselbaink in front of Given at the near post, a low shot, end of a cup run. 0-1

Full time: Chelsea 1 Newcastle 0

Uncle Bobby said about Bellamy's booking:

"John Terry came in hard from behind and didn't play the ball. Craig retaliated and it was quite right that they were booked. The referee either had to book both of them or send them both off," he said.

"We're very disappointed. That was the cruellest moment for them to score.

"We had the ambition of winning this cup and we respected it by playing a full side.

"For us, like Tottenham and Chelsea, it is a competition that is worth winning but I can't speak for any other clubs."

Claudio Ranieiri said:

"This competition is very important for Chelsea. It is good for our confidence and for our building process.

"It would be fantastic for other people to have Ranieri against Vialli, but for me, it's the same whoever we draw."

About the goal: 

"I was very happy inside as it was the perfect moment to score.

"When you have a striker like Jimmy, you know that he will score between 20 and 30 goals a season for you. I would be very happy if he won the golden boot. Contenders like Michael Owen and Jimmy are champions."

On the occasion of the birthday of former record-holder Irving Nattrass (22 appearances), Rob Lee made his 23rd appearance for Newcastle in this competition, and probably his last.

Our failure to register a goal in this match mean that we're still stuck on 49 for the season in all competitions.

Inevitably our winless London record was extended once again, and now stands at 29 games. In Cup competitions, our record against Chelsea continues to be an embarrassment, and it's now 69 years since we beat 'em in any senior competition (pedants out there will know that we slipped past them in the Youth Cup a couple of years ago).

2001/02 League Cup lost 0-1 (a)
1999/00 FA Cup lost 1-2 (n)
1995/96 FA Cup (a) drew 1-1 and lost on penalties in (h) replay after 2-2 draw
1992/93 League Cup lost 1-2 (a)
1958/59 FA Cup lost 1-4 (a)
1949/50 FA Cup lost 0-3 (a)
1931/32 FA Cup won 2-1 (n) 

As for trips to Stamford Bridge, we last won there in season 1986/87 and since then have recorded 4 draws and 7 defeats in all competitions

It has to be recorded that Chelsea seem to have something of their own moveable hoodoo over us at present, as well as leading role in that London record. Since we warmed up for the FA Cup final in May 1998 by beating them 3-1 at St.James' Park we've failed to notch a win in 9 attempts, including the Cup Semi.  

One or two scores to settle then on December 29th at Gallowgate. 

As your correspondent yet again trudged wearily down the Kings Road in the company of the smug locals of SW6, selfish thoughts of personal misery were for once put to one side in favour of a wider appreciation of the state of mind of those holed up in the away dressing room.

While it's written in scripture that we are the long-suffering fans who endure all manner of tortures in both cup and league competition, and in some ways almost take a perverse delight in our misery, for once my sympathies were with the players and the manager.

The expressions of despondency on the faces of the toon fans were mirrored by the players, who seemed genuinely choked by the turn of events as they wandered off the field in a daze, one or two seeming to choke back tears as they acknowledged the travelling contingent.

In truth they must be as sick of this accursed record as we are and seem genuinely at a loss to explain it or deal with it. A bit like when we played at Wembley really. 

While Bobby will project the obligatory positive vibes and square-jawed stoicism in the face of what increasingly looks like witchcraft, god alone knows what he must be thinking. At least an element of self-doubt has to creep in at dark moments like this, and while he can rightly point out we have another chance to put things right next week, the identity of the opposition then means that even that crumb of comfort has a hollow ring to it. 

Never mind breaking the spell this season, he must wonder (as we do) whether it'll come during his managerial career on Tyneside or even end up on his headstone.  

Often in these pages you'll find sniping and cynicism directed towards people in football who only interrupt their sick-as-a-parrotisms and expressions of gutted-ness to ensure their latest contract renegotiation is still on track. 

However, all the money in the world wouldn't have alleviated the obvious suffering of our lads at the conclusion of this game. If nothing else tonight, we showed a semblance of team spirit and the reactions of some of the players betrayed the depth of their feelings for the club.

Forgetting for a moment about effort and application though, the stark facts are that we failed to test the Chelsea keeper sufficiently, and therefore were always prone to conceding the sort of goal that ultimately put us out. 

The manner of the exit was melodramatic, but the nearest we came to a goal in normal time was when a Chelsea lob beat Given and came off the crossbar, when our in-form keeper somehow clawed back a goalbound shot that was past him, and when a longer set of studs would have seen Jimmy Floyd celebrating earlier in the evening. Yes, we did well to carry the game into the final seconds unresolved, but amongst all the raw emotion it's easy to forget that we never really got Shearer involved and Bellamy had an invisible second 45 minutes.   

Both players and supporters have to continue to believe that the spell can be broken somewhere along the line, given a repeat of the level of effort and commitment displayed by Newcastle in this game. It's just that our only two remaining scheduled matches down here are at Arsenal and Spurs, where it's fair to say bad nights have outnumbered good....perhaps a cup replay against Palace could hold the key, or more realistically another bloody trip to Stamford Bridge, Craven Cottage or the Valley in the 4th round - there's a cheery thought.

The annoying thing is though that the suspicion in this particular game was that Chelsea were there for the taking. If Bellamy had buried his first-half chance or just one of Andy O'Brien's three attempts gone in, the reaction of Ranieri's men would have been very interesting. With a negative reaction from the half-empty stands and a repeat of previous home failures beginning to form in the minds of the players, this one could have been ours, and a two-legged semi final would surely not have been beyond us. Good job we never booked those B&B's in Cardiff I suppose...

Clutching at what few straws there are in our situation, we at least didn't have the physical toil of another 30 minutes and the mental torture of a penalty shootout that we would inevitably have lost, and are thus slightly better placed to exorcise the ghosts of Stamford Bridge against Blackburn. Dyer also made his third appearance in a week and dampened down the media hysteria by proving he could walk unassisted never mind run around kicking a ball.

It would be nice if the noise level was cranked up a few notches at our own ground on Saturday, and a bit more empathy was apparent between fans and players when the score is 0-0. Too often we seem to lapse into the "i've paid handsomely, now entertain me" attitude in our rebuilt ground, with some vocalising only evident when we're ahead. Some appreciation of the unrewarded effort put into this cup tie would be appropriate on Saturday, when the real business restarts. Cup football comes and goes but the big stuff is the league. 

No use getting despondent about it, we just have to earn enough points elsewhere so a draw at the Valley becomes a useful result in the context of improved home form or not getting caned at Anfield or Old Trafford etc. Applying that theory to one-off away cup match in the smoke is still a bit problematic though..... 

One day it will be our time in the Capital and we'll either hammer someone by a cricket score or a 92nd minute og off someone's backside will put an end to it all. Had we won this tie we'd still have to notch up a Capital victory in the league to truly end the sequence and silence the chattering classes. So there.

Biffa

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