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VIEW MATCH REPORT

Sunday 4 Dec 2005
Chelsea 1-0 Middlesbrough
John Terry goal seals yet another win for Premiership leaders Chelsea.

John Terry headed in a Duff corner which Fabio Rochemback fumbled into his own net.

Rochemback had earlier cleared a similar effort to safety as Middlesbrough frustrated the home side.

Hasselbaink missed Boro's best chance on 14 minutes, when his shot hit the post. Sure he would have loved to score against his old side, a side in which now he would struggle to even find a place on the bench.

Boro striker Yakubu's shot deflected off Terry to ex-Blues striker Hasselbaink and he looked set to score only for his sidefooted effort to come back off the post. Crys of donkey could be heard being muttered around the bridge.

The close shave, woke Chelsea up and they almost took the lead at the other end when Damien Duff's corner was scrambled away by the Boro defence.

Chelsea appealed for handball against Gareth Southgate but, even though the incident was more ball to hand, it was the first of many escapes for the visitors.

The Boro backline was breached by Frank Lampard and it looked ominous for Steve McClaren's side as the midfielder had a free shot from 18-yards.

But the trademark Lampard long-range strike was straight at keeper Mark Schwarzer, who was quickly in action again when he had to crucially come out and save at the feet of Didier Drogba.

A Terry header from another Blues corner was cleared off the line by Rochemback while Lampard slid in to meet an Arjen Robben cross but saw his shot go wide.

Boro could not be faulted for their work-rate and, after weathering the Chelsea storm, frustrated the champions with their defensive discipline either side of half-time.

But Boro's resistance was eventually broken when Terry, making his 250th club appearance, got his head to another Duff corner and, although Rochemback was again on the line, he only helped the ball into his own net.

Drogba could have extended Chelsea's lead but shot over from just eight yards after some wing wizardry by Duff on the right.

In the end, the miss did not prove costly as they secured their 13th top-flight win of the season.

Steve McClaren: stated after the game,
"I think Chelsea will admit it was probably one of their toughest afternoons here for a long time

Not from where I sat, Middlesbrough had one chance, Chelsea had a number, and always looked the better team. They always looked like they would score and once the goal went in it was all over. If that was Chelseas toughest afternoon, then the blues will win the league by the new year.