Chelsea were dumped out
of the FA Cup by Bradford
in sensational style at
Stamford Bridge with the
League One side coming
back from 2-0 down to
stun the Premier League
leaders 4-2.
First-half goals from Gary Cahill and Ramires
looked to have put the Premier League leaders on
course for a comfortable victory on Saturday,
but the visitors had other ideas.
Jonathan Stead pulled a goal back before the
break and midfielder Filipe Morais, who left
Chelsea during Jose Mourinho's first reign at
the London club due to a lack of first-team
football, equalised 15 minutes from time.
But there was yet more drama when Andy
Halliday put Phil Parkinson's side in front in the
82nd minute, and Mark Yeates added a fourth in
stoppage time to consign Chelsea to their first
home defeat of the season, ending their hopes of
winning the quadruple.
Mourinho named a much-changed side with a
League Cup semi-final second leg against
Liverpool and a crunch league clash with
Manchester City to consider over the coming
week and, despite bringing on Cesc Fabregas and
Eden Hazard, he was unable to avoid an
embarrassing defeat.
Teenage defender Andreas Christensen made
only his second competitive start for Chelsea as
Mourinho made nine changes to the side which
drew at Liverpool in midweek, with Cahill and
John Obi Mikel the only men to retain their
places.
Bradford were clearly not overawed by the
occasion and Petr Cech produced an outstanding
one-handed save to keep out Davies' header
from a Morais corner after 14 minutes.
It was a corner at the other end which led to the
opening goal seven minutes later, when Oscar
swung the ball in and Cahill was on hand to flick
in his second goal of the season from close
range.
Didier Drogba almost doubled Chelsea's lead a
couple of minutes later with a measured effort
after a sharp turn, but Ben Williams denied the
veteran striker with a fine save.
The hosts doubled their lead seven minutes
before half-time, though, as Bradford lost
possession on the halfway line and were made to
pay by Ramires, who played a one-two with
Mohamed Salah before seeing his shot go in off
the post.
There appeared to be no way back for the
League One side, but Stead pulled a goal back
from out of the blue when he let fly with a
venomous left-footed drive which Cech got a
hand to but was unable to keep out just three
minutes after Ramires' strike.
That was by no means a false dawn for
Bradford, who started the second half on the
front foot and Morais had a shot tipped over the
crossbar by the alert Cech.
Billy Knott then tried his luck with a curled
effort, but failed to work Cech, and Salah, shot
narrowly wide of the far post after 63 minutes
as Chelsea strived to give themselves breathing
space.
Chelsea were stunned when they failed to deal
with a long throw from James Meredith, and
Morais was on hand to side-foot home after
Knott's shot was saved by Cech to send a huge
away contingent into raptures.
Better was to come for the visitors, though, as
Halliday found the top corner after Stead had
laid the ball off and Stead then laid on a fourth
goal for Yeates, who kept his composure to finish
four minutes into time added to seal one of the
most astonishing FA Cup upsets of all time.