Substitute Bjarne Goldbaek provided the moment of inspiration Chelsea needed
as he set up Roberto Di Matteo's late winner at Hillsborough.
The FA Cup fifth-round tie had failed to live up to its pre-match billing and
was limping towards a replay when the Dane came on with nine minutes remaining.
Goldbaek did not take long to make an impact and after four minutes he crossed
for fellow substitute Di Matteo to nod home at the back post for a simple
finish.
The goal was somewhat harsh on Sheffield Wednesday, but then fate has never
favoured them in meetings with the Blues at this stage of the competition.
Four times previously they had played Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup
and four times they had lost.
No-one tried harder to end that losing sequence for the Owls than Benito
Carbone.
Along with Chelsea's Gianfranco Zola, he had received most of the attention in
the build-up to this game.
Owls boss Danny Wilson had even gone as far as to claim that they were the
best strikers around bar Manchester United's Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke.
The Wednesday match programme had added to the hype by dubbing them
'Goodfellas' and superimposing dark hitman glasses on pictures of the pair.
It was always going to be hard for the two friends to live up to such
expectations, but Carbone came closest with a virtuoso performance.
Carbone went for Chelsea from the first whistle and he fired an angled drive
just wide.
Former Owl Dan Petrescu was being booed by the home fans every time he touched
the ball and to their delight he shot into the side-netting from a great
position on the right.
Such was Carbone's confidence that he tried one over-ambitious shot from 30
yards out, which failed to trouble Ed de Goey in the Chelsea goal.
Zola was quiet by comparison but he reminded Wednesday of just how dangerous
he can be when he had a goalbound shot deflected for a corner.
Carbone was not going to be upstaged by his friend and he released Stefanovic
down the left with a beautifully-weighted pass and it needed the alert Dennis
Wise to cut out his dangerous pull-back.
Albert Ferrer's comeback from a calf injury lasted just 30 minutes and he went
off to be replaced by Di Matteo.
The Italian wasted no time making his mark on the game and he was inches away
from opening the scoring when he shot just wide from Gianluca Vialli's pass.
Just on half-time Wim Jonk forced a good save from de Goey with a snap shot
from 25 yards out.
The gulf in class between Carbone and Andy Booth was exemplified just after
the interval when Booth could not even manage to get a shot in after he had been
played through on the left.
The game was far from pretty but both sides continued to create chances. From
one Di Matteo found Celestine Babayaro just inside the Wednesday area on the
left and he cut inside onto his right foot only to shoot straight into the arms
of keeper Kevin Pressman.
Carbone was at it again in the 60th minute when he fired a dipping shot just
over the bar after Frank Leboeuf had lost possession outside his own box.
The tie was becoming more haphazard as it entered the final quarter and
Babayaro completely missed the ball as he lined up a shot 25 yards out.
It was now Wednesday's turn to pile on the pressure and their territorial
advantage should have been rewarded with a goal on 72 minutes.
Carbone found Dejan Stefanovic on the edge of the area and he played a square
ball across to the unmarked Niclas Alexandersson.
His first effort was saved by de Goey and Marcel Desailly blocked his second
attempt before Jody Morris completed the clearance.
At this stage Wednesday probably felt they were ahead on points, but then cup
kings Chelsea delivered the knock-out blow at the death.
Goldbaek had replaced Morris in the 81st minute and with his second touch he
sent over an inviting ball from the right for Di Matteo to score.
Goldbaek, signed for £350,000 from FC Copenhagen earlier in the season, was
not finished yet and in stoppage time he forced a fine save from Pressman, but a
second goal would have been most unfair on Wednesday.
Teams:
Sheff Wed: Pressman, Atherton, Thome, Walker, Stefanovic,
Alexandersson, Sonner (Agogo 90), Jonk, Rudi (Briscoe 84), Booth,Carbone.
Subs Not Used: Newsome, Clarke, Humphreys.
Booked: Atherton.
Chelsea: De Goey, Ferrer (Di Matteo 30), Desailly, Leboeuf,
Le Saux, Petrescu, Wise, Morris (Goldbaek 81), Babayaro, Zola,Vialli.
Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Terry, Forssell.
Goals: Di Matteo 85.
Att: 29,410
Ref: S Dunn (Bristol).
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