Not for the first time in recent seasons Chelsea travelled away from the capital only to find themselves undone by a team of relatively meagre resources but, significantly, one with a more pronounced appetite for hard work.

No doubt Chelsea will claim that they fashioned sufficient openings to have emerged victorious from what was a rather low-key evening at Valley Parade, but their football was so pedestrian, so utterly bland, they deserved precisely what they got.

On Saturday at Anfield, Bradford manager Chris Hutchings could find no place for Benito Carbone. But after defeat by Liverpool the expensive and moody Italian was drafted in to add a dash of flair to a team which, on occasions last season, did almost seem to revel in its own blandness.

Bradford gift more time and space to their opponents than most and it always seemed likely that Chelsea would gorge themselves on possession.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's free running always prompted a measure of panic in the Bradford defence, and it was his cross from the left midway through a turgid first half which almost provided the breakthrough, Gustavo Poyet only just failing to make contact at the far post.

Having contributed so little, Bradford promptly scored almost as if to remind Chelsea that complacency will always represent the enemy within.

From a Chelsea perspective, it was a truly awful goal, for having permitted Lee Sharpe to cross from the left they stood and watched as Dean Windass steered a fine header just inside the far post.

Thereafter, Chelsea actually began to stir themselves but with their attacks so lacking in genuine pace, Bradford held firm.

Hasselbaink was to become the most notable victim of Chelsea's appalling lethargy, dragged off before the hour mark to make way for Tore Andre Flo.

With 15 minutes remaining, Chelsea were to be undone for a second time, Carbone driving in with some power from 25 yards, a shot which goalkeeper Ed de Goey really should have halted.

Bradford: Clarke, Nolan, McCall, Wetherall, Carbone (Myers 89), O'Brien, Windass, Sharpe (Whalley 79), Atherton, Petrescu (Ward 76), Hopkin. Subs Not Used: Beagrie, Davison. Goals: Windass 24, Carbone 74.

Chelsea: de Goey, Babayaro (Harley 46), Desailly, Poyet, Hasselbaink (Flo 56), Wise, Melchiot (Panucci 63), Di Matteo, Morris, Zola, Thome. Subs Not Used: Gudjohnsen, Cudicini. Booked: Wise.

Referee: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City).