FA Cup 3rd Round

MACCLESFIELD Town went down 6-1 in the millionaire's playground, but the Silkmen exited Stamford Bridge and the FA Cup with their heads held high.

Macc acquitted themselves in a professional manner and, but for an outrageous red card shown to Tommy Lee, would surely have come out with even more credit.

The Silkmen may be 90 places below Chelsea in the leagues, but the scoreline suggests a very different meeting than those at the Bridge actually witnessed.

The visitors matched Chelsea during an entertaining first half, although they went behind to a Frank Lampard goal after 16 minutes, the England star finishing from close range after Shaun Wright-Phillips miscontrolled a cross from the left.

The finest moment of Macc's so-far turbulent season came in the 40th minute.

John Murphy latched onto a Matty McNeil flick and, after Ricardo Carvalho fluffed his clearance, the on-loan striker powered a strong finish through the legs of Hilario.

The estimated 5,000 Macc fans packed into the Shed End went wild but, before the fervent celebrations died down, Lampard restored the champions' lead, pouncing onto a poor touch by Alan Navarro and beating Lee from the edge of the box.

At half-time, Paul Ince's team were a goal behind but still in with an outside chance of causing a major upset.

The hopes of those who dared to believe died shortly after the break though.

Multi-million rouble misfit Andriy Shevchenko was sent through by Wright-Phillips and, with only Lee to beat, stumbled into the advancing 'keeper.

Although there was definite contact, it was clear that the Ukraine striker did all he could to win the spot-kick, even feigning an injury to erase any doubt in referee Lee Mason's mind.

As Lee received treatment for the knock he took in the collision, the distraught 'keeper was shown a red card by Mr Mason.

With no goalkeeper on the bench, Dave Morley was forced to take over the gloves. His first task was to pick the ball out of the net, Lampard completing his hat-trick from the spot.

The ten remaining Silkmen refused to roll over, and held out until the 68th minute, when Wright-Phillips nipped ahead of Morley to prod home a cross.

The makeshift goalie did palm away a Shevchenko drive as Chelsea began to turn the screw.

Macc finished the game with just nine men. Ince had used his three substitutes before John Miles, himself a replacement for Colin Heath, had to leave the field through injury.

As expected, Chelsea were home and dry at this point, although the late goals scored by John Obi Mikel and Carvalho made for a scoreline that does no justice to the brave efforts of Ince's battlers.

  • MACC TOWN: Lee, Regan, Swailes, Morley, McIntyre, Heath (Miles 60), Hadfield (Tolley 73), Navarro, Bullock, Murphy, McNeil (Jennings 51). Subs not used: Reid, Tipton. Booked: Navarro. Sent off: Lee.
  • CHELSEA: Hilario, Geremi, Ferreira, Carvalho, A Cole (Woods 78), Wright-Phillips, Lampard (Morias 71), Mikel, Kalou (Sahar 75), Bridge, Shevchenko. Subs not used: Kalambay, Sinclair. Booked: Mikel, Shevchenko, Cole.

Attendance: 41,434.

Referee: Mr L Mason.