05/12/2001  Chelsea 0 Charlton 1
 
Chelsea's revival shuddered to a halt tonight as Charlton 
super-sub Kevin Lisbie nodded home an 89th-minute header to 
clinch a 1-0 victory in a hard-fought London derby at Stamford 
Bridge.

Claudio Ranieri's side - who had beaten Leeds and 
Manchester United in their last two games - were unable to 
repeat their goalscoring heroics against the Addicks, who 
stunned the home crowd by bagging a surprise late winner.

The Blues were under the captaincy of 20-year-old 
centre-back John Terry for the first time - due to Marcel 
Desailly's injury-enforced absence - but his team were short 
of attacking ideas in the first half.

The half-time introduction of fans' favourite Gianfranco 
Zola for the under-par Boudweijn Zenden made the second 45 
minutes more entertaining.

His clever support play from midfield was the inventive 
force behind much of the Blues' attacking play. But that 
possession in the final third failed to produce the 
breakthrough time and time again.

Eidur Gudjohnsen was guilty of wasting great opportunities 
with off-target shooting.

And Charlton made the home side pay the price for their 
profligacy when unmarked Lisbie came up with a late 
winner.

The visitors' Portuguese centre-back Jorge Costa was on the 
bench alongside fellow on-loan new-boy Chris 
Bart-Williams.

Neither had played recently due to fall-outs with their 
clubs - Porto and Nottingham Forest respectively.

Jason Euell, who had missed the last three Addicks matches 
due to a family bereavement, replaced Sean Bartlett - out with 
a dead leg - up front.

For the home side Emmanuel Petit was still sidelined by his 
calf problem, while Graeme Le Saux also missed out, with a 
head injury.

The Addicks have been besieged by injury problems 
throughout this season and the queue at their treatment room 
door incredibly got even longer inside two minutes 
tonight.

John Robinson limped off with a groin strain, to be 
replaced by Paul Konchesky.

Euell almost created a scoring opportunity for the 
visitors, before Zenden skipped clear of the Charlton backline 
on the left wing after 14 minutes and squared the ball towards 
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink on the far post.

Opposing centre-back Mark Fish made the first of a series 
of crucial interceptions and deflected the ball behind for a 
corner.

Charlton's Jonatan Johansson dispossessed Sam Dalla Bona 
after 25 minutes, but when he squared the ball to Euell, the 
forward hesitated and allowed the Chelsea defence to scramble 
the ball clear.

Captain Graham Stuart's scooped shot goalwards also brought 
an easy save from Carlo Cudicini.

Ranieri threw on Zola for Zenden at the start of the second 
half, and his influence transformed Chelsea into a side with 
attacking invention.

However Charlton's Claus Jensen soon found Euell just eight 
yards from goal, but he could not control the skidding ball 
and blasted a foot wide of the near post with a first-time 
shot.

But Zola's clever prompting from midfield was paying 
dividends and Gudjohnsen fired narrowly wide from 20 yards 
moments later - and should have done better when he beat the 
offside trap and dragged a shot across goal after 52 
minutes.

Kiely made a fine block from a Hasselbaink thunderbolt 
after 56 minutes and did exceptionally well to scoop the 
rebound clear as Mario Melchiot tried to force home the loose 
ball from close-range.

As Chelsea's pressure mounted, Gudjohnsen then wide from 15 
yards when he bore down on goal after a clever Hasselbaink 
lay-off.

Hasselbaink tried to force a late breakthrough and brought 
a fine diving save from Kiely with a powerful effort from the 
edge of the area and also struck the side-netting from a 
similar distance three minutes later.

But there was late drama as Charlton substitute Lisbie rose 
unmarked to score from a Konchesky free-kick in the 89th 
minute.

The home defence went AWOL as Jensen's delivery from the 
right flank was nodded home by the striker.