Fernando Torres turned unlikely hero as he saved Chelsea from being dumped out of the FA Cup. Otherwise the Blues would have joined the Premiership carnage at the hands of lower level competition. Russ Turnbull had a nightmare in goal, as a slow reacting John Terry was forced into a backpass, and the Chelsea goalie erred in straying too close to his captain, collecting with his hands. It was a clear sendoff. But Turnbull survived and Brentford could not capitalize on the free kick.
There were mistakes a plenty for Brentford's first strike. Frank Lampard gave the ball away almost on top of the D to Harry Forrester who snapped a first timer which was parried by Turnbull straight to Marcello Trotta who made no mistake. Chelsea did little of note in the first half.
Oscar restored parity with a beautifully controlled finish after a series of neat touches as Chelsea improved on their first half performance. However, it was the League 1 team causing damage again as Chelsea gave the ball away cheaply, this time Ramires was the guilty party. Brentford broke forward with Tom Adeyemi bulling his way past the backpedaling Chelsea center halves leaving Turnbull with a desperate lunge to try and stop him. Harry Forrester was cool as cucumber with the spot kick.
Demba Ba and Fernando Torres combined together to produce Chelsea's lifeline. Ba falling down was able to slide his pass forward to Torres who showed a flashback. Rafa Benitez was booed by the visiting fans and if Chelsea do not produce at Stamford Bridge in the replay, his interim status might be shortened drastically.
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