THE SHORT outwitted the long and the tall at Highbury yesterday as Chelsea reached their fifth FA Cup final, and their second in four seasons to leave Wimbledon with nothing but a field of wistful dreams.

The all-round craftsmanship of Gianfranco Zola, aided by the marksmanship of Mark Hughes and the footballing sagacity of Dennis Wise, not only brought Chelsea a decisive 3-0 victory, but rescued the day's first semi-final from scrappy mediocrity. In the end, Wimbledon could not live with the skill and vision these players brought to Chelsea's football.

Hughes, his presence in doubt because of a groin injury, gave Chelsea the lead at a significant psychological moment shortly before half-time and scored their third goal in the game's dying seconds. In between times, Zola virtually put the contest beyond Wimbledon's reach with a piece of artistry that had the losers' manager, Joe Kinnear, observing that "the hallmark of a great player is producing the goods when it matters, and he did just that".

So Ruud Gullit will lead Chelsea out at Wembley on May 17th. Moreover, he will lead out a Chelsea team which should be in a rather more sanguine frame of mind than the relatively-limited side who lost 4-0 to Manchester United in the 1994 final. To start with, Hughes will be wearing Chelsea blue this time.

Yesterday's match, however, belonged largely to Zola who carried on rather where Dennis Bergkamp had left off for Arsenal the previous afternoon. Seldom, if ever, can Highbury have witnessed two such displays of individual talent in the space of 48 hours.

Once Wimbledon had to chase the game, or to be more specific the ball, on rapidly tiring legs they were done for. The pursuit of two cups and a place in Europe has strained the stamina of even Kinnear's muscular athletes, and yesterday it showed.

All might have been different had Chelsea's goalkeeper and central defenders lived down to their pessimistic pre-match billing. Frode Grodas and Frank Leboeuf it was felt, would wilt under Wimbledon's aerial bombardment.

In fact this never happened. To be sure, Wimbledon's football reached for the sky from the outset, with free-kicks, corners and the prodigious throw-ins of Vinnie Jones landing in Chelsea's goalmouth like howitzer shells. But Gullit's defence held firm.

For a goalkeeper, catching high balls against Wimbledon must be rather like collecting conkers amid falling trees. But Grodas's handling seldom wavered and with Leboeuf showing impressive calm in front of him, the panic factor never came to Wimbledon's aid.

Interestingly, five of Chelsea's six survivors from the 1994 final (Wise being the other) were either defenders or midfield players with defensive leanings. Yesterday, Erland Johnsen was the best of these. He not only challenged Efan Ekoku and Marcus Gayle for high balls with consistent success, but denied Wimbledon the second ball, from deflect ions and ricochets, which brings them so many goals.

The only success Wimbledon achieved was in hustling Chelsea out of their usual smooth passing patterns during the opening 20 minutes. But once Wise began to find space in midfield and down the flanks, even without the injured Dan Petrescu, Chelsea were able to get behind their opponents and put pressure on the Wimbledon centre-backs, Chris Perry and Deari Blackwell.

After an anonymous start, Zola became a steadily growing influence. Robbie Earle had gone close a couple of times for Wimbledon, preserving the thought that the long ball might yet win the day, but it was Leboeuf's long pass to Zola, three minutes before halftime, that swung the game in Chelsea's favour.

With exquisite timing the small Italian held the ball until he could release Wise to his left. With Neil Sullivan beaten, Alan Kimble managed to get in front of Craig Burley as the cross dipped towards the net, but his clearance was chested down by the incoming Hughes, who then scored from close range.

The match was always Chelsea's after that. Three minutes past the hour, Dennis Wise and Roberto Di Matteo worked the ball in to Zola from the left, Zola's first touch was impeccable, Blackwell was beaten by a deft turn, and Sullivan by a firm shot.

Just before that, Kinnear had brought on Dean Holdsworth to give himself an extra striker, but what Wimbledon really needed were new legs.

In stoppage time a weary Perry misjudged Grodas's huge clearance and misheaded the ball straight to Hughes, who scored gleefully and gratefully.

"Everybody was saying we couldn't cope with Wimbledon's strength and hassle," said Gullit, "but we played good, patient football".