Fulham pay the penalty

12 April 2012

Chelsea's penalty shoot-out curse ended in the most dramatic fashion as they survived the sending-off of Alex to beat Fulham and reach the Carling Cup fourth round.

Pajtim Kasami hit the crossbar with a second-half spot-kick after Alex saw red and Bryan Ruiz did the same in the subsequent shoot-out, with replays inconclusive as to whether the ball crossed the line.

Chelsea's win, which came after a goalless two hours at Stamford Bridge, improved their miserable record of seven penalty shoot-out defeats from their previous eight and gave manager Andre Villas-Boas another chance to blood his youngsters in the next round.

Only a last-gasp Stephen Kelly challenge on Florent Malouda prevented Chelsea taking the lead 16 minutes in however, the Frenchman also whipping in a cross two minutes later that Salomon Kalou glanced wide.

With half-time looming, Josh McEachran brilliantly burst into the box in what was his first appearance of the season and beat Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, with Daniel Sturridge making sure as Kelly tried to clear only to be flagged offside.

Injury was added to insult as Sturridge was forced from the field and, before Frank Lampard could come on to replace him, Petr Cech was hurt colliding with Orlando Sa and failed to re-emerge for the second half.

Ross Turnbull came on and it got worse for Chelsea in an extraordinary opening two minutes after the restart. Salomon Kalou fired into the side-netting after being released by Lampard and moments later Fulham won the penalty that saw Alex dismissed.

Ruiz's clever back-heel freed debutant Kerim Frei, who was brought down by Alex. Referee Chris Foy deemed the Brazilian last man and produced a red card, but Kasami failed to capitalise, smashing the penalty against the crossbar.

The drama reached fever pitch when Kerim Frei and Kasami cleared off the line from a corner before the former's finish sailed wide at the other end under pressure from Turnbull. Substitute Steve Sidwell almost volleyed a sublime winner against his former club, David Luiz nodded a corner over the top and Lampard was booked before the shoot-out ensued.

Lampard's penalty was immediately saved by Schwarzer, with Bobby Zamora, Luiz, Sidwell and John Terry all scoring before Turnbull's save from Moussa Dembele levelled matters. Kalou, Chris Baird and Malouda then netted before Ruiz smashed Fulham's fifth against the crossbar, and possibly over the line, but it was not given.

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