27/10/2004  Chelsea 1 West Ham 0
 
Mateja Kezman ended his goal drought to put Chelsea into the fourth round of the Carling Cup with a second-half matchwinner - and then found himself at the centre of a coin-throwing incident.

Kezman finished off a delightful pass from former West Ham midfielder Joe Cole to fire the ball beyond Jim Walker and into the net.

It was a huge relief to the former PSV Eindhoven striker, who had spurned three glorious first-half chances.

Chelsea should have won by a bigger margin but former Hammer Frank Lampard missed a 77th minute spot-kick after Arjen Robben had been felled by Tomas Repka.

Before the penalty could be taken however, Kezman was forced to leave the field for treatment to a head injury caused by a missile, believed to be a coin, which appeared to be thrown from a section of West Ham fans.

The injury marred an enthralling tie at Stamford Bridge with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho making numerous changes from the side which demolished Blackburn in the Barclays Premiership at the weekend.

England defender and skipper John Terry, Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson, Claude Makelele, and Alexei Smertin were all omitted.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech and hat-trick hero Eidur Gudjohnsen were relegated to the bench along with Lampard and Damien Duff - meaning only Joe Cole started against his former club.

For the second time in as many games, Chelsea found themselves having to kick-off in the middle of a torrential downpour.

A swift Chelsea move almost brought them an opener in the fifth minute but Kezman wasted the first of three gilt-edged chances.

Cole found Robben in unfamiliar territory on the right and when his shot was deflected across the penalty area it fell to the unmarked Kezman, who saw his volley saved by Walker at the near post.

West Ham struggled to find any space as Chelsea relentlessly pressed forward in search of an early goal and only a last-ditch tackle by Rufus Brevett denied Cole the opportunity to score against his former club in the 11th minute.

The West Ham defender somehow managed to turn the ball away for a corner as Cole prepared to let fly from inside the penalty area.

The former Hammer then sent Kezman clear of the visitors' defence moments later but the striker's technique let him down when he pushed the ball too far wide of the onrushing Walker.

West Ham finally began to stem the blue tide on the half-hour and Adam Nowland sent a 30-yard shot over the bar in one of their rare forays into the last third.

In the 28th minute, Bobby Zamora found himself with time and space to turn and run at the Chelsea goal - but he failed to apply the necessary curl to his 20-yard drive and it missed Carlo Cudicini's right-hand post by at least a yard.

Walker pulled off another fine save from Cole's 18-yard drive after the ball had run free to the Chelsea midfielder in the 36th minute.

The resultant corner saw Kezman send a header beyond the far post as the home fans began to get restless at their failure to engineer an opening goal.

Kezman then spurned another opening a minute from the interval when he headeda Geremi cross wide of the target from six yards out - and the same player was prevented from opening his account for the Blues just two minutes after the restart.

Once more it was the outstanding Walker who denied Kezman with a superb save from his left-foot shot after the Chelsea striker had worked hard to find himself a clear shooting opportunity.

However, in the 56th minute, Kezman managed to break the deadlock - with Cole the architect - firing a left-foot shot beyond Walker and into the net off the left-hand upright.

Chelsea should have made it two in the 77th minute when Robben was brought down by Repka inside the penalty area.

As substitute Lampard prepared to take the spot-kick, hero Kezman appeared to be hit by a missile thrown from the West Ham section of fans.

Kezman was forced to leave the field for treatment to a cut on the head and Lampard then saw his penalty saved by Walker.

West Ham pushed in vain for an equaliser and were only denied in the final moments by the woodwork, as Anton Ferdinand's header crashed against the top of the bar.