Oxford, £14 million in debt, almost pulled off the upset of the FA Cup so far last night but they were deprived of a famous victory with a dubious penalty awarded two minutes into injury time. The Premiership leaders breathed a sigh of relief after Kevin Francis was adjudged to have brought down Gianluca Vialli by the referee Mike Reed and Frank Leboeuf slotted home from the spot.

A goal on 52 minutes from the irrepressible Dean Windass was so nearly enough to embarrass Chelsea's multi-national millionaires but at least Oxford will get a financial windfall from the replay at Stamford Bridge.

A greater contrast between two professional sides it would be harder to imagine. It cost Chelsea £29 million to put last night's 16 players on the pitch and bench; Oxford's squad cost just £1.3 million to assemble.

While the First Division strugglers wallow in debts of £13 million, the west London club strut around as one of the most opulent in the land.

Chelsea buy players for fun; Oxford have been forced to sell most of their best in order to make ends meet. While the likes of Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola pick up £40,000 a week each out of a total annual players' wage bill of £25 million, the non-playing staff and manager at the Manor Ground were not paid for two months earlier in the season.

Yet the beauty of football is that on occasions such as this reputations so often count for little. All it takes is a spot of complacency from the upper-class to be pounced on by the destitute rising to the occasion, and we are applauding another upset.

So it was encouraging to see Oxford begin brightly last night making some early incursions into the Chelsea area. As early as eight minutes, the left-back Paul Powell's cross from tight to the by-line was somehow allowed to shoot invitingly across goal. However, no Oxford body could get a touch and Graeme Le Saux cleared.

Oxford battled on with undeterred tenacity. If they needed any reminder of the brooding threat of a Chelsea side almost at full available strength it came a minute before the break. From a free-kick wide on the left, Vialli swung in a ball which was heading for the top left corner until the goalkeeper just managed to tip it over the bar.

However, despite that late flurry, there was no getting away from the feeling that some of the Chelsea players had left their appetite in Tenerife, where the squad spent last week on a midseason break.

Oxford certainly were making light of the fact that they have been forced to sell players and last night were missing the creative influence of the suspended Joey Beauchamp.

And on 52 minutes the two factors produced the barely imaginable: an Oxford goal. Jamie Cook, making a rare first-team start, swung in a corner from the right which looped over Le Saux on the near post and fell to Windass who stooped to head the ball over the line from close range.

The home fans took no time at all to suspend their disbelief as they went up as one to celebrate a rare moment of joy at the Manor Ground.

Windass sums up much of the Oxford saga. He shrugged off better offers to join his pal Malcolm Shotton, the United manager. But Oxford have been unable to pay Aberdeen the £450,000 fee and the Scottish club have graciously given them time to come up with the cash.

Leboeuf was furious with Oxford boss Shotton over his reaction to a hard tackle when Francis' studs went into his leg.

"What I didn't accept was that he waited for my tackle and then tackled above me. But the worst thing was when I saw the manager telling him `very well done'.

"I cannot accept that. I know in Oxford you have many intelligent people, but you also have some stupid ones."

Oxford United: Jackson, Robinson, Powell, Gray, Watson, Gilchrist, Banger (Remy 87), Tait, Murphy (Francis 61), Windass, Cook. Subs Not Used: Wilsterman, Weatherstone, Smith. Booked: Francis, Robinson. Goal: Windass 52.

Chelsea: De Goey, Leboeuf, Desailly (Goldbaek 80), Di Matteo, Vialli, Wise, Duberry, Le Saux, Zola (Nicholls 86), Petrescu (Babayaro 80), Terry. Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Morris. Goal: Leboeuf 90, pen.

Referee: M Reed (Birmingham).