Chelsea 3-1 Scunthorpe [FA Cup 3rd Round]

Jose fielded a severely weakened team. Two untried youngsters --- Steven Watt and Nuno Morais --- in defence, as Gallas, Terry and Ferreira were rested. Smertin as centre-half. Midfield of Geremi, Tiago and Cole. All three senior strikers up front. Cudicini in goal, but that's barely a weakness.

Abysmal performance, as one might have predicted with such a team. Scunthorpe took a "shock" lead on 7 minutes through Hayes amidst the shambles. Equalised 15 minutes later with a well-taken Kezman volley. Shambles continued though.

Nothing changed second half in terms of Scunny's dominance, but they took a little pressure off us with an own goal from Crosby, who turned Drogba's cross into his own net. After that was a hair-raising spell in which Scunny missed several sitters (one that came from Carlo missing a cross), crashed one header against Carlo's post, and forced Carlo into good saves. Then we put it beyond them for good with a Guddy goal, this time Robben (on as a sub!) the architect.

Jarosik, the new Czech midfielder signed from CSKA Moscow, made his debut late on.

At least we fared better than Manure, whose second-string team were held to a 0-0 draw by non-league Exeter. But it nearly backfired, and perhaps Jose deserved to have it backfired. Recent luck continues though.