Jose Mourinho?s men went into their match against Middlesborough at the Riverside Stadium hoping to avenge last season?s mauling at the hands of the North-east outfit.

Confidence would have been high in the Chelsea squad after Sunday?s home win against Manchester City and it didn?t take long for the visitors to continue where they left off. 16 minutes on the clock to be precise when great work from Wayne Bridge down the left hand side saw him produce the cross for Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko to stab home and score his first goal of the season. Bridge was once again showing Mourinho he doesn?t need to fork out unnecessarily for the services of Ashley Cole.

Soon after Chelsea had a chance to extend their lead but Didier Drogba?s cross-come-shot couldn?t be turned in at the back post by Salomon Kalou. Chelsea were beginning to take a hold on proceedings.

Shevchenko then had his curling free-kick tipped over by Schwarzer.

But if Chelsea thought Middlesborough would turn over easily they had another thing coming. Gareth Southgate?s men showed plenty of grit and dug deep to produce chances of their own.

Yakubu had a great chance from a Stuart Downing cross into the box but the Nigerian striker couldn?t quite get his head on the end of it.

In the second half Middlesborough continued to press hard for an equaliser and Yakubu once again missed a great opportunity when well placed.

Lampard did threaten halfway through the second half; the Chelsea midfielder saw his header come back off the crossbar after good work from Shevchenko on the left.

But credit to Middlesborough they stuck at it and they where back in it with ten minutes to go. Fabio Rochemback?s free-kick was headed home brilliantly by Emmanuel Pogatetz after he rose highest in the penalty area.

With the wind in their sails Middlesborough pushed for a winner and got their reward in the dying minutes. Stuart Downing?s cross was knocked down by Yakubu in the penalty area and Mark Viduka, a second half substitute fired home from close range with the aid of a slight deflection to inflict the first defeat of the season on the Champions.

It was a disappointing result for Jose Mourinho?s men but they have no-one to blame but themselves for such a poor showing. The Blues now face a difficult trip up to Ewood Park next.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 24th, 2006 at 9:07 am and is filed under Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Football News. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.