Beleaguered Blues held in cup

CHELSEA failed to get the better of Birmingham as the Championship outfit earned a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup fifth round at Stamford Bridge.

Sunday, February 19, 2012
John Terry (C) was frustrated after yesterday's 1-all draw against Birmingham.

CHELSEA failed to get the better of Birmingham as the Championship outfit earned a 1-1 draw in the FA Cup fifth round at Stamford Bridge. The home side’s season was in danger of hitting a new low when their latest defensive calamity allowed David Murphy to give the visitors a shock half-time lead at Stamford Bridge.Colin Doyle also brilliantly saved a Juan Mata penalty and, although Daniel Sturridge eventually equalised, Chelsea simply did not do enough to find a winner.The performance showed Sunday’s summit meeting in which Andre Villas-Boas’ players reportedly challenged their manager did nothing to address the problems which led to their worst display of the season at Everton last weekend.Villas-Boas insisted it did not matter if some of his squad did not back him as he had the support of Roman Abramovich, but the club’s billionaire owner would not have been happy with what he saw yesterday.The man he spent £50million on - Fernando Torres - again failed to impress, hauled off at half-time for Didier Drogba, who was a surprise substitute following the African Nations Cup.But others, too, let themselves down as Chelsea’s winless run extended to four matches.The travelling fans taunted Villas-Boas with chants of, "You’re getting sacked in the morning”, as Chelsea toiled from the start.