Chelsea beat Championship outfit Bolton Wanderers 2-1 to advance in the Capital One Cup at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening, thanks to goals from Kurt Zouma and Oscar.
Defender Zouma had given the hosts a 25th minute lead, before Wanderers centre back Matthew Mills powered a header home on the half hour.
Brazilian midfielder Oscar then settled proceedings as he hit a low driven effort into the bottom left hand corner to send Chelsea through.
The Blues, who came into the game on top of the Premier League, made several changes to their starting 11, with Petr Cech replacing Thibaut Courtois, Kurt Zouma for John Terry and Loic Remy coming in for Diego Costa, in what were just a few fresh faces in Chelsea’s tinkered squad. Nathan Ake also started for the West London club.
Meanwhile, Dougie Freedman made five changes to the squad who lost 1-0 away at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday, with Jermaine Beckford and Craig Davies leading the line up-front for the Trotters.
Chelsea started the game brightly, with Andre Schurrle forcing Bolton goalkeeper Andrew Lonergan into a fine save, with the game only five minutes old.
Five minutes later, Lonergan was called upon again, this time keeping out Oscar’s defelected effort, as Bolton hung on during the opening exchanges.
Bolton didn’t seem to be getting into the game whatsoever, with Chelsea looking dangerous with every attack.
World Cup winner Schurrle was once again in the thick of the action, however he saw his right footed free-kick superbly tipped onto the crossbar by Andrew Lonergan after 15 minutes. The German then saw his curling effort just dip wide of the post from a tight angle just two minutes later.
The visitors looked to find a way into the Cup tie, and Craig Davies may have cosidered himself unfortunate not to get on the end of a teasing cross from the right hand side.
Soon enough though, Chelsea found a deserved lead, through summer recruit Zouma, with 25 minutes on the clock.
The 19 year old centre back pounced to a lose ball before poking home in a croweded penalty box past Lonergan, as normal service was resumed at the Bridge.
Three minutes later, Jermaine Beckford then found his way into the Chelsea area with the ball, however he was tackled at the last minute by Filipe Luis.
However, Bolton would find their equaliser, through captain Matthew Mills, after 32 minutes.
Liam Feeney launched a free-kick forward, with centre defender Mills meeting the ball superbly and glancing into the bottom left hand corner past Petr Cech.
As the half wore on, Chelsea looked for a second, with Nathan Ake seeing his 30 yard screamer superbly tipped round the post for a corner by Lonergan, as Wanderers managed to see out the first 45 minutes level pegging with their Premier League counterparts.
Chelsea then went out for the second half looking to restore their lead, with Lonergan once again to the rescue, keeping out Oscar’s near post header once again, with 50 minutes of the game played.
The next real chance for the hosts would prove to be their winner, through a well taken driven finish by Oscar, on 55 minutes.
A lose ball broke to the Brazilian midfielder, who took a few touches and fizzed a superb effort into the bottom left corner beyond the despairing dive of Lonergan.
From there on, it was an uphill battle for Bolton, with Freedman throwing on, first Lee Chung Yong, and then Joe Mason and Jay Spearing later on.
Wanderers huffed and puffed, atempting valiantly to get back into the Cup tie in West London, with Mason and Beckford both going close as the game entered its final stages.
Chung Yong Lee saw his driven effort comfortably gathered by Petr Cech with 10 minutes to play.
Chelsea could have perhaps had a third later on, with Lonergan tipping Schurrle’s fierce drive onto the near post.
Bolton’s final chance of the tie came in the last few minutes, as Joe Mason failed to connect with Jermaine Beckford’s defelected effort.
by Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
