Southend take Chelsea to a replay

Chelsea 1 Southend 1: League One minnows Southend stunned Chelsea with a stoppage-time equaliser to earn a deserved third-round replay. Salomon Kalou's first-half goal looked to have earned Chelsea a place in the next round until Peter Clarke headed an equaliser from close range in the 90th minute.

Chelsea had dominated the game but paid for a host of squandered chances by allowing an unmarked Clarke to beat Carlo Cudicini with a close-range header.

It was just reward for the Shrimpers who valiantly kept out Chelsea's wave of attacks in a pulsating second half.

But Chelsea's need for a first-class finisher was further underlined after an afternoon when they failed to kill off their lowly opponents.

Chelsea's first attempt in the fifth minute was typically lamentable with Frank Lampard sending a 30-yard free-kick well wide of the target.

Drogba should then have put the Blues ahead in the 10th minute but he waited too long to shoot and former Chelsea youngster Anthony Grant managed to get in a superb tackle to deny the Ivorian.

Chelsea continued to dominate and eventually opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Kalou rose unmarked to head home a corner from Lampard.

The goal had enabled Chelsea to with go about their work with calmness but their attempts to increase the scoreline from set pieces were woeful in the extreme.

Southend had enjoyed little success in attack but a cross from Jean-Francois Christophe had to be turned over his own crossbar by Branislav Ivanovic in the 39th minute.

It was a rare moment of panic in the Chelsea defence and moments later they were back in attack. But once again their finishing lacked the required quality and Belletti was again guilty of sending his 20-yard effort high and wide.

Chelsea continued to push for a second and Mildenhall was forced to punch clear off the head of Ricardo Carvalho in the 63rd minute. There was little respite for Steve Tilson's side but they continued to defend valiantly inside their own penalty area.

In the 66th minute Belletti saw his header cleared off the goal-line as the Premier League side searched in vain for a second.

Southend were beginning to show some attacking desire as the game wore on but they were restricted to the odd counter-attack.

The Premier League side pushed the ball around with confidence but their cutting edge was well below par.

In the 82nd minute, Lampard endeavoured to put the game beyond Southend but his 20-yard lob was straight at Mildenhall.

Chelsea then had a narrow escape a minute later when a cross from Johnny Herd was met by Clarke under pressure from Cudicini.

The United defender got to the ball first but his header bounced off the top of the crossbar to Chelsea's relief. But worse was to follow when defender Clarke stunned Chelsea with a 90th-minute equaliser from close range.

Chelsea were denied a late winner by Mildenhall when he somehow kept out a header from substitute Franco Di Santo.