ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP/Semi-final, first leg: Chelsea- 2: Tottenham - 1: Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink contrasted subtlety and sheer brute force to put Chelsea within 90 minutes of the English League Cup final last night.
A thunderous 77th-minute free-kick ripped past Kasey Keller after Spurs' centre-half Ledley King had handled. It negated Les Ferdinand's equaliser 12 minutes earlier, which came hot on the heels of a missed sitter from the Tottenham striker.
Chelsea had taken the lead through Hasselbaink's deft early goal and had just seen their goalkeeper Keller deny the Dutch striker a second when Gustavo Poyet sent Ferdinand clear with only Cudicini to beat. But the striker delayed his shot, allowing Cudicini to pluck the ball from his feet.
Barely had the groans of Tottenham's supporters died away, however, and Tim Sherwood had set Ferdinand up for a similar opportunity which this time he did not miss. Turning away to celebrate, Ferdinand was struck in the back by a plastic bottle hurled from behind the goal but appeared unhurt.
For some Premiership clubs the League Cup is small beer but neither of last night's teams could afford to pass up the chance of reaching at least one of the season's finals. Certainly Chelsea, despite recent successes in both domestic knock-out competitions, still had to convince themselves they were a prize-winning side.
And while Tottenham had won the League Cup three seasons earlier, their revival under Glenn Hoddle demanded some tangible reward. Against Spurs was the fact that they had failed to beat Chelsea in 25 previous meetings stretching back to 1990. Any sort of defeat, therefore, and history would lie heavily against Hoddle's team in the return leg.
Chelsea, missing the suspended Graeme Le Saux, kept faith with the principle of being innocent until proved guilty by including both John Terry and Jody Morris, who earlier in the day had appeared at Horseferry Road magistrates court to plead not guilty to charges of affray and assault.
A goal for Chelsea was not long delayed. Gudjohnsen gathered a ball inside from Sam Dalla Bona and this time the through pass caught Spurs spread-eagled, easy victims for Hasselbaink, whose blindside run left him with just Kasey Keller to beat, which he did with aplomb.
Almost from the start, then, Tottenham found themselves chasing a familiar forlorn cause not helped by the lack of Teddy Sheringham's ability to link up their attacks.
Only Keller's alertness in punching wide Hasselbaink's curling 30-yard free-kick denied Chelsea a second soon after. Tottenham did not pose a serious threat until the 25th minute when Simon Davies managed to hold off a challenge from Marcel Desailly as he met Mauricio Taricco's pass before shooting past the far post.
Any encouragement Spurs took from this might have been swiftly dispelled by the loss of Stefan Freund on the half-hour. The German twisted an ankle challenging Frank Lampard and gave way to Sherwood. Yet Freund's departure coincided with a marked improvement in Tottenham's passing and organisation with Darren Anderton and Gustavo Poyet beginning to find gaps in the opposition's cover.
After half-time Morris gave way to Albert Ferrer without disturbing Chelsea's pattern. Clearly they needed another goal. History alone might not protect such a slender lead.
Tottenham's football still flowed evenly but without finding the combustion to demand more than routine tidying-up from Cudicini and the Chelsea defence. But the possibility of Spurs drawing level was there and in the 53rd minute Taricco sent a rising shot just wide after a centre had been half-cleared.
Wisely, Chelsea made sure they did not become over-stretched going forward, and whenever Hasselbaink or Gudjohnsen gained possession one looked for the other to pop up in scoring positions. Had the former kept his toe down when Gudjohnsen set him up on the hour Chelsea might have scored again but Hasselbaink's shot ended up in the stand.
CHELSEA: Cudicini, Melchiot, Babayaro, Terry, Desailly, Lampard, Morris (Ferrer 45), Dalla Bona, Zola (Jokanovic 66), Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen (Forssell 73). Subs Not Used: de Goey, Keenan. Goals: Hasselbaink 10, 77.
TOTTENHAM: Keller, Taricco, Gardner, Perry, King, Freund (Sherwood 29), Anderton, Poyet, Ziege, Ferdinand (Rebrov 88), Davies. Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Etherington, Thelwell. Booked: Anderton. Goals: Ferdinand 65.
Referee: A Wiley (Burntwood).
