‘Ugly scenes can’t ruin Lampard milestone’

SundaySunderland 1-1 Norwich CityTottenham 0-1 Fulham Chelsea 2-0 West Ham Wigan 2-1 Newcastle LONDON – Frank Lampard scored his 200th goal for Chelsea who beat West Ham United 2-0 to move into third place in the Premier League above Tottenham Hotspur who suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat by Fulham on Sunday.But Rafael Benitez insisted the ugly scenes sparked by Lampard’s 200th goal shouldn’t overshadow the England midfielder’s landmark achievement.Lampard finally reached his double century for the Blues after a month stuck on 199 with a first half header against his former club at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.But the 34-year-old’s goal was greeted with anger by West Ham’s travelling supporters as Lampard and John Terry celebrated the milestone in front of the away end.Terry, who started the match on the substitutes’ bench, had already responded to taunts from the east London club’s fans as he warmed up in front of them by bending over to aim his backside towards them.And the atmosphere turned even uglier when Terry and Lampard, who had been hated by West Ham supporters since leaving for Chelsea in 2001, were greeted with missiles thrown onto the pitch following the 19th minute goal.It was claimed Terry was hit by a coin and fourth official Howard Webb told Benitez to instruct Chelsea’s substitutes to warm up away from the West Hams fans after that.But Blues interim manager Benitez was adamant the unsavoury incident should not detract from Lampard’s achievement, which moved him within two goals of Bobby Tambling’s club record.“When you score 200 goals you don’t think too much about where you are celebrating, but after that you think it would have been better to be in another part (of the stadium),” Benitez said.

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‘Ugly scenes can’t ruin Lampard milestone’