Chelsea

READING, England, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - Didier Drogba scored the winner on his return from injury as Chelsea fought back to win 2-1 at 10-man Reading on Wednesday.
Drogba struck five minutes after half-time to add to Frank Lampard's equaliser after Andre Bikey had given the home side an early lead following an embarrassing error by Petr Cech.
The Ivorian showed no signs of ring rust after a two-week lay off with knee problems but Chelsea's lack of dominance in defence without John Terry was once again in evidence.
Reading had debutant Kalifa Cisse dismissed in the second half for two bookable offences, leaving Jose Mourinho's side in control by the end.
In contrast, an erratic first half display by the Blues saw them struggle to contain Reading's excellence from dead ball situations and the London club were fortunate to go in at half-time only one goal down.
Former Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell was given a full debut by Mourinho after his summer arrival on a Bosman free transfer.
Royals manager Steve Coppell was limited in his attacking options with Irish duo Kevin Doyle and Shane Long his only available first team starters following Dave Kitson's red card against Manchester United and Leroy Lita's rather embarrassing hip injury, sustained while stretching in bed.
It was the under-strength Reading side though that began the game with the most vigour as a shot by Welsh winger John Oster brought about a flurry of corners.
Each time Chelsea were well matched to Stephen Hunt's dangerous in-swinging set-pieces and despite three corners being won, a combination of Tal Ben Haim's outstretched limbs and Ivar Ingimarsson's off target header kept the scores deadlocked.
But when the opening goal came it was from the most unlikely of sources as Reading defender Michael Duberry was forced off just before the half-hour mark and replaced by Cameroon international Bikey.
England full-back Nicky Shorey's free kick from the left hand side was headed on by Ingimarsson, proving a constant threat at set pieces, but Cech failed to meet the ball with his attempted punch and Bikey was left to stab the ball home from just six yards.
Uncharacteristic slackness at the back by Chelsea then almost saw Oster make it two when his right-footed volley from close range cannoned back off the post with Cech powerless to stop it.
James Harper collected the rebound and attempted to drive his finish past the off-balance goalkeeper but his shot was fired wastefully over from 12 yards.
Chelsea nearly snuck themselves back into the game minutes before the break when substitute Glen Johnson got on the end of a Lampard corner, only to be denied by the in-form Marcus Hahnemann.
It was route-one stuff though which finally breached the American international's goal as Claudio Pizarro was thrown on after the break at the expense of the largely ineffective Paulo Ferreira.
A long ball pumped up the field was headed on first by the Peruvian, then Drogba, before a trademark late run from Lampard saw him power home an equaliser.
Just two minutes later Drogba showed what a lethal finisher he is to give his side a slightly undeserved lead.
Drogba, last season's leading Premiership top scorer, lashed a 20-yard finish past the outstretched arm of Hahnemann after collecting a pass from international colleague Salomon Kalou.
Chelsea then began to dominate proceedings and exert their influence on the game with Reading's attacking limitations beginning to come to the fore.
The final 20 minutes saw Reading reduced to ten men and under even more pressure when Cisse, a summer buy from Boavista, appeared to clatter Pizarro to earn himself a second yellow card.
However television replays showed the French midfielder to be somewhat unlucky to be shown his marching orders as he did not seem to touch the former Bayern Munich man.

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