Town will rue Marcus Bent's first half penalty miss as for the second successive home game the match ended 0-0. Chelsea's Carlo Cudicini was the busier of the two keepers in a game which has, temporarily at least, taken Town out of the bottom three.

George Burley made a few changes to his side after the lacklustre display at West Ham. Andy Marshall came in for Matteo Sereni while Tommy Miller made his first Premiership start. He joined Matt Holland in the middle of midfield with Sixto Peralta on the left and Finidi George on the right. Up front Alun Armstrong came in for Marcus Stewart who joined youngster Darren Bent on the bench.

The game started brightly and Marcus Bent hit a shot just past the post in the seventh minute.

Gianfranco Zola had the away side's first serious effort on 11 when his freekick came off the wall. Hermann Hreidarsson had fouled Stanic to the left of the Town area about 25 yards out

Finidi George had a header deflected away on 15 from a Mark Venus cross. At the other end Zola was proving Chelsea's biggest threat and he went just wide on 22 as a Le Saux corner was cleared. The England player had a bit of a laugh with the North Stand who sang Mauricio Taricco's name at him as he ran to take the kick.

Town were probably having the best of it though, and on 25 a Hreidarsson cross just evaded Marcus Bent at the far post. The Icelander had been played in down the left by an excellent Sixto Peralta ball. The Argentinian was spending a lot of time playing fairly centrally and with Tommy Miller playing a combative role Town's central midfield had a steelier look to it than of late.

Miller was not that far away from his first Town goal in the 28th minute. He turned and hit a shot from the edge of the area which flashed just past Cudicini's right-hand post. Miller had a reputation for goals at Hartlepool, something that he will hopefully emulate here.

On 29 there was a scare for Town. The otherwise excellent Fabian Wilnis lost the ball to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, but John McGreal got back to challenge. It looked as if Hasselbaink had been fouled but referee Eddie Wolstenholme played the advantage and Sam Dalla Bona hit a cross which went out. Despite Hasselbaink protests no freekick was given.

On the hour Hasselbaink was played in by Forssell but Wilnis was back to take the ball off him and out for a corner.

Three minute later Marcus Bent had the best opportunity of the whole afternoon. Mark Venus hit a long ball towards Bent. He flicked it on to Armstrong who took the ball down and into the penalty box moving left. As he did so he was felled from behind by Terry. Referee Wolstenholme had no doubt and pointed to the spot, although he surprisingly showed no cards.

Bent stepped up to take the kick and struck it firmly but too close to Cudicini's right. The ball came off the keeper and over the bar for a corner. Town's poor record from the spot continues with Bent adding his name to the many others who have missed over the last four or five years.

The Town support cheered their man despite this miss and he responded by slapping his bald head with his hand, presumably a form of applause. Quickly afterwards he put in a long cross from the right towards Alun Armstrong. The ex-Boro man got his head to it but he was too far out to really test the Chelsea keeper.

Finidi George was the next Town player to hit a decent effort. The Nigerian struck a sweet shot from the edge of the area but saw it go just wide of Cudicini's left-hand post.

Just before the break the Chelsea fans were on their feet cheering. Zola's low cross had run along the six-yard line and found Stanic just beyond the far post. The Chelsea man got to the ball but could only deflect it into the sidenetting.

Town made no changes at half-time and were straight back on the attack within a minute. Tommy Miller getting his head to a Marcus Bent cross after Finidi had won the ball and played the striker in down the right.

Bent created a chance from the other side four minutes later. He took the ball forward and crossed towards Sixto Peralta who flicked the ball towards Alun Armstrong. Cudicini just got in ahead of the Town man but caught him in the head as he did so, fortunately not doing too much damage.

Town won a couple of corners in succession on the right and the second was cleared and then played back in to Finidi on the edge of the area. As he ran goalwards he was tripped and Town had a freekick, despite protestations that he was challenged inside the area. Holland's well struck freekick was saved well by Cudicini who punched his effort away from goal to the Chelsea left. It was as good an effort as Town have hit from a freekick with all too many merely hammering against the wall of late.

Hasselbaink had a chance to hit a freekick at the other end on 55 after Venus had climbed all over Forssell. His effort came off the wall and out for a corner. From the kick Stanic headed over and looked as if he felt he might have done much better.

At Stamford Bridge earlier in the season a Sam Dalla Bona shot won Chelsea the game in the last minute. The Italian has a go at repeating that effort in the 58th minute, but Marshall had little trouble with his 25-yarder.

Marshall was in action again on the hour as Hasselbaink hit another freekick, this time after Holland fouled him.

Referee Wolstenhome gave a freekick after reference to his linesman in the 61st minute. Sixto Peralta had a shot hit Melchiot's hand, something the referee clearly didn't see. Town played on and Miller hit a weak shot to Cudicini. However, after consultation with the assistant he gave Town the freekick. Mark Venus curled his kick wide of the post.

With a quarter of an hour left Chelsea decided that changes were needed. Off came Forssell and Dalla Bona and on Lampard and Gudjohnsen. Already Stanic had been replaced with Zenden and this gave Chelsea a more composed look. Immediately Zola had a shot deflected wide.

Armstrong was put away down the right by Miller on 68, but his cross-shot was gathered by the keeper with little trouble. It proved to be Armstrong's last action as George Burley made a double substitution. As well as Armstrong, off went Peralta and on came Marcus Stewart and Darren Bent. The youngster went to right midfield while Stewart joined Bent senior in the attack. Finidi moved to the left-wing.

Stewart's presence had an effect within a minute. Last year's highest scorer played Finidi George in inside the Chelsea area to the right of the goal. With the by-line approaching Finidi tried to slip the ball past Cudicini, but like Peter Schmeichel a week or so ago, he just got hit foot to it and deflected it away.

Town appeared to lose their shape after the substitutions with Darren Bent drifting into the middle on a number of occasions and leaving Fabian Wilnis with a harder task on the right. Chelsea enjoyed their best spell of the game, but were restricted to efforts from outside the area which Marshall had little trouble with or which flew over the bar.

The visitors were almost down to nine men for a while with around five minutes left. Frank Lampard went off for brief treatment and while he was off John Terry went down on the other side of the pitch. As Lampard returned to the fray the Chelsea physio ran across the field while play continued. Eventually the referee blew his whistle but surprisingly took no action other than having a brief word with the interloper.

Town's final chance of the afternoon was another freekick from just outside the area. Marcus Stewart had been pulled back by Terry as he broke through on goal. It was a cynical foul, although another defender appeared to be between Stewart and the goal. Again the lack of any card was a surprise. Sub Jamie Clapham, on for Finidi in the closing stages, curled his effort just over the bar.

A much better performance from Town and perhaps more hope amongst supporters (a record all-seater attendance of 28,053) than there was after the match at Upton Park on Saturday. The midfield looked stronger with Tommy Miller and Peralta playing ‘narrower' down the left.

Three points would obviously have made a bigger difference to the total and it is always depressing to look back on a game where you have missed a penalty and then gone on to drop points.

Next week's match at Bolton looks even more crucial than it did (if that's possible) with most results going Town's way today. Hopefully Southampton will continue that trend when they meet Blackburn later this evening.

Photo: Action Images

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