12/04/2000  Chelsea 2 Coventry 1

Chelsea climbed to fourth in the Premiership with a 
second-half comeback that washed Coventry away at Stamford 
Bridge.

George Weah and Gianfranco Zola rescued Chelsea just as it 
looked like their heroics of last week in Europe and at 
Wembley would be submerged in a downpour on a skid-pan 
pitch.

The Champions' League glory against Barcelona and the FA 
Cup semi-final triumph over Newcastle looked a world away as 
Gary McAllister gave Coventry an 18th minute lead with a 
splendidly-contrived goal and Chelsea's passing game was 
bogged down on a rain-soaked morass.

But manager Gianluca Vialli, who made five changes from 
Sunday's semi-final starters with Chelsea fielding just as 
many Englishmen as Coventry - Dennis Wise, Jody Morris, who 
surprisingly wore the captain's armband, and Jon Harley - 
added a trio of substitutes to the muddy mix after the break 
and his team never looked back.

Just eight minutes after the interval, Weah, replacing Tore 
Andre Flo, set up winger Gabriele Ambrosetti for a drilled low 
cross which Colin Hendry turned into his own net.

Four minutes later, Weah, galloping down the left after the 
cloying conditions confounded Richard Shaw's attempt at a 
routine clearance, laid on another perfect pass, this time for 
Zola to slot home.

Coventry, having looked likely to come away with a surprise 
success, finished only with an extension to their miserable 
away record, still without a win outside Highfield Road for a 
year.

It was anguish especially for Hendry who had been so 
instrumental in their early goal and battled with true 
Scottish grit to repel Chelsea's charge.

But once loan-star Weah got into the action, there was 
little doubt about Chelsea extending their unbeaten 
Premiership run to a 16th match.

He is ineligible for the European Cup, having already 
played in it for AC Milan this season, but the gifted Liberian 
is having a major say in Chelsea's bid to finish in the top 
three.

That's vital because although they will start favourites to 
make the semi-finals against Barcelona in the Nou Camp on 
Tuesday, they may still have to win it to be in it again.

Without injured Belgian goalscorer Cedric Roussel, Coventry 
appeared to carry little threat to Vialli's multi-national 
heroes.

But persistent rain had had turned the pitch into a midweek 
lottery, with the players raising spray with every kick and 
passes stopping short of their targets with frustrating 
regularity.

And it was Coventry, adapting much better to the dreadful 
conditions. Their persistence brought them a goal inside the 
first 20 minutes.

Centre-back Hendry, revelling in the muddy trenches, 
started it by robbing Flo just inside the Coventry half and 
kept running after funnelling the ball forward to Noel 
Whelan.

When the striker's low cross came in the big defender 
applied a marvellously delicate touch which set up fellow Scot 
McAllister to coolly tuck the chance away for his 10th goal of 
the season.

Flo wasted a great chance to equalise, nipping in front of 
Shaw to meet Emerson Thome's through-ball but lifting his shot 
over the bar.

But the near-farcical playing surface, with the ball 
repeatedly held up in surface water, put Chelsea's passing 
game all at sea and Frank Leboeuf was almost caught out on the 
edge of his area trying to dribble clear.

Whelan nipped in to dispossess him and the Frenchman had to 
scramble the ball back to prevent a one-on-one with goalkeeper 
Ed de Goey.

Coventry's defence had also disappeared, though when Dan 
Petrescu crossed from the riht in the 34th minute and Gus 
Poyet, the two-goal Wembley hero, was one of three Chelsea 
players, leaping against a single Sky Blue defender.

The Uruguayan, though, headed tamely straight at Magnus 
Hedman and when Harley came raiding down the left just seconds 
later, Chippo's desperate tackle dispossessed Zola just as he 
was about to shoot.

Then Harley tried another shot from distance which did not 
even reach Hedman. The Swedish keeper had to come out of his 
six-yard box to pick it up. 

It was just as frenetic at the other end with Whelan all 
but scoring a second for Coventry among a splashing series of 
miskicks following a corner conceded by Leboeuf's last-ditch 
tackle.

In stoppage time at the end of the first half Poyet fired a 
rocket inches wide after Morris's miskicked effort had been 
blocked.

Then Roberto di Matteo fired similarly close to the target 
at the start of the second period.

But Vialli's triple-change, which included 19-year-old 
Italian midfielder Sam Dalla Bona replacing di Matteo, finally 
worked the oracle.