Top > Sport > 2006 > October > 2006-10-16

Hurting Chelsea walks away with a win

Chelsea can walk off the field after Saturday`s game against Reading relieved to have won 1-0. That is more than can be said about almost any other aspect of the game. Played the final 28 minutes with 10 men, after Chelsea John Obi Mikel was ejected for a second yellow card, and losing two goalkeepers to head injuries, Chelsea will remember this night as a freak win.

Defender John Terry finished the match defending the goal from the goalkeeper`s position, after starting goalkeeper Petr Cech was carried off on a stretcher early in the game, after being kneed in the head by Reading`s Stephen Hunt. Replacement goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini was also unlucky, losing consciousness and taken off on a stretcher in the final minutes after a collision with Ibrahima Sonko.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said of the first injury that it was "a disgrace." Of the second incident, Mourinho said that though "there was no intent from the player," Hunt should have shown more respect and not laughed after Cech was injured. The single goal in the match was scored in the 45th minute when a free kick by Frank Lampard was deflected for a goal by Reading defender Ivar Ingimarsson.