Leicester recovery defies the odds

RECENT history half caught up with Chelsea yesterday when they tossed away a two-goal lead at Filbert Street in the fifth round of the FA Cup as dramatically as Liverpool had surrendered a similar advantage at Stamford Bridge in the fourth.

Unlike Liverpool, Chelsea did not lose the game but, having dominated Martin O'Neill's seriously weakened Leicester side in the first half and scored twice, they must still be wondering how they let it slip in the second. The replay, on Wednesday week, is far from a foregone conclusion.

For one thing, Leicester will have Emil Heskey, their principal attacking force, back from suspension along with Mustapha Izzet, Robbie Elliott and Neil Lennon. Altogether, they were missing nine players yesterday, through a combination of injuries, bans and, in one case (Neil Lewis), imprisonment.

At half-time it seemed that Leicester's spirit would never be able to make up for their manifold deficiencies. Then Steve Walsh nodded in a free-kick from Garry Parker to throw Chelsea on to the back foot and, with three minutes remaining, Eddie Newton diverted another into his own net.

Thus, Leicester live in hope of a quarter-final place and the chance of reviving admittedly distant memories of their famous upset in the 1949 semi-finals when, as a struggling second division side, they beat Portsmouth who were about to win the league championship.

In the end, Chelsea were as disappointing as they had been triumphant against Liverpool. Perhaps Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo, both of whom were replaced before the end, were feeling the effects of last Wednesday's World Cup qualifying match against England. But as O'Neill was quick to point out afterwards, Chelsea were able to bring Gianluca Vialli and Ruud Gullit off their bench.

Leicester's only realistic chance yesterday was to hunt in a pack, hustle for every ball and hope Chelsea's defence would make mistakes. Eventually it did, but for a long time Hitchcock's failure to catch Parker's free kick in the sixth minute threatened to be Leicester's only glimpse of a place in the next round.

Chelsea needed a while to get going. After 16 minutes, however, Di Matteo moved into the penalty area with nobody prepared to make a challenge and unleashed a fierce right-footed shot into the far corner of the net.

Essentially, Chelsea were not allowing their opponents sufficient possession even to sketch out the blueprint of a revival. Ten minutes from the end of the first hall, the contest appeared over. Newton cut out a poor pass from Simon Grayson on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area and Leicester found themselves victims of the afternoon's best counter-attack. Di Matteo found Dan Petrescu and he sent in Mark Hughes for a firmly-controlled shot, again into the far corner.

The return of Walsh, the Leicester captain, after an absence of 13 matches proved to be the inspiration they needed. A centre-back with centre-forward's habits, Walsh will always be a danger at set-pieces and in the 52nd minute, the force with which he met Parker's kick from the left brooked no argument.

After that, Leicester were always in with a chance. Four minutes later, Prior headed down yet another of Parker's free kicks and this time Walsh drove the ball just wide. Later, Grayson's dive all but made contact with Scott Taylor's cross. In neither instance did Chelsea's defenders really know what was happening.

Yet Gullit's side looked like holding on as Leicester's rally began to ebb. Then Hitchcock only half came for a free kick from Parker that swung low towards the near post, and Newton quite correctly tried to waft the ball behind. Instead, he wafted it into the roof of the net.

Even then, Hughes might have won the game for Chelsea from Frank Leboeuf's centre, but headed over the bar. The Frenchman did find the net from 20 yards, but the final whistle had sounded seconds earlier. Both Gullit and Leboeufseemed to believe the shot should have counted, but Casey Keller, knowing the game was over, had relaxed in the Leicester goal.

Not an outstanding match by any means, but at least Leicester's recovery helped banish memories of the fighting that broke out among spectators after Chelsea's opening goal. A hooligan, revival is the last thing football needs.