West Ham - 2, Chelsea - 2: A goal three minutes into injury-time saw Chelsea triumph dramatically in this fourth-round replay just as extra-time loomed. With virtually the last touch of the game, defender John Terry rose highest to head in Graeme le Saux's corner from the right to reward his side's refusal to buckle after twice going behind.
The prospect of a home tie against Preston and progress to the quarter-finals was calculated to stir the Cup-fighting instincts of both teams last night. And the Cup does guarantee a UEFA Cup place to the winners.
Having already lost at Upton Park in the league this season and then been taken to a replay by West Ham only a week after beating them 5-1 at home in the Premiership, Chelsea could have been forgiven some misgivings now.
Suspension and injury had deprived West Ham of Paolo di Canio and Frederic Kanoute, leaving them a little light up front despite the presence of an in-form Jermain Defoe. But in Joe Cole and Don Hutchison they still possessed the right mix of speed and guile to find attacking space and disturb the authority of Terry and Marcel Desailly.
Chelsea, then, were content to absorb West Ham's initial aggression and bide their time, knowing that scoring chances would fall to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink or Eidur Gudjohnsen sooner or later. With Frank Lampard and Emmanuel Petit quick to step up in midfield, stretching the opposition's lines of communication, Chelsea wasted little time setting their two strikers in motion.
When a match is as tight as this the wings usually offer the only hope of a breathing space. Not surprisingly the first scoring chances followed a dipping centre from le Saux on Chelsea's left which was intercepted before it could reach Hasselbaink but was immediately followed by Terry gathering a return pass from Sam Dalla Bona to draw the game's first save from David James.
Straightaway James's throw launched Trevor Sinclair on a counter which took the winger the length of the pitch, though only to shoot wide. These moments loosened the bolts.
The more the game opened up the more Hasselbaink's speed and anticipation posed a danger to the centre of West Ham's defence. Midway through the first half the Dutch striker all but burst clear after a cleverly angled ball from Petit had created a gap.
But West Ham still should have gone ahead just before the half-hour. With the rest of Chelsea's defence backing off, Hutchison wrested the ball from Albert Ferrer's falling challenge and laid it into the path of Cole, who uncharacteristically dragged his shot wide.
Yet a goal for West Ham was soon to come, and involved a mixture of good instincts and good fortune. Steve Lomas knocked back Sebastien Schemmel's centre to Defoe, whose quick shot from a narrow angle ricocheted off Terry's foot and took a further deflection off Carlo Cudicini as it entered the net.
Paul Kitson should have increased West Ham's lead five minutes from half-time when a searching pass from Nigel Winterburn on the left found him clear of the Chelsea centre-backs. But his shot did not trouble Cudicini.
West Ham were soon to rue such profligacy. In the next minute Tomas Repka broke up a Chelsea move by handling the ball and after he had been cautioned, with James still lining up the defensive wall, Hasselbaink drove in the free-kick.
But for a well-timed interception by Hutchison, Mario Stanic could well have put Chelsea ahead in the second minute of the second half. Gudjohnsen's finely-angled pass had caught West Ham square but Hutchison was able to turn and make his tackle.
Hutchison was ubiquitous. Three minutes later he appeared deep in Chelsea's half near the righthand touchline and drove the ball low into the goalmouth. Normally Cudicini would have held such a cross as a matter of routine but on this occasion he spilled it, allowing Defoe to regain West Ham the lead with a tap-in.
Chelsea are a team well-equipped to trade goals for as long as it takes but they could ill-afford the loss of Gudjohnsen, who gave way to Mikael Forssell just past the hour after being caught painfully by Repka just past the hour. This was offset to a degree by the simultaneous arrival of Gianfranco Zola.
In fairness to Forssell he did bring the scores level once more four minutes after coming on but the goal was more down to a mistake by Hutchison, who tried to head Ferrer's cross back to James but merely gave the Finn the easiest of chances.
When James failed to cling on to a low drive from Forssell, Hasselbaink enjoyed an opportunity which he wasted by shooting against the goalkeeper's body.
WEST HAM: James, Schemmel, Repka, Dailly, Winterburn, Sinclair, Hutchison (Labant 76), Lomas, Cole, Defoe, Kitson (Todorov 82). Subs Not Used: Hislop, Moncur, Foxe. Booked: Repka. Goals: Defoe 38, 50.
CHELSEA: Cudicini, Le Saux, Desailly, Terry, Ferrer, Stanic, Petit, Dalla Bona (Zola 61), Lampard, Hasselbaink, Gudjohnsen (Forssell 61). Subs Not Used: de Goey, Jokanovic, Huth. Booked: Stanic. Goals: Hasselbaink 43, Forssell 65, Terry 90.
Referee: G Poll (Tring).
