Match Reports

David Bell's spectacular and freakish first goal for the club was the high point of a poor game as we ended a run of four straight defeats and reached the 50 point mark with eight games remaining.

We made a bright start, with Jordan Henderson providing a cross for Freddy Eastwood who shaved the crossbar with a powerful shot,

But Doncaster have improved greatly in the second half of the season, and former Sky Blues loanee Matt Mills almost broke the deadlock with a header from a corner, although it would have been a fucking joke if a player whose sole contribution to a spell at CCFC was a disastrous own-goal were to score against us!

On the 20 minute mark we took the lead, and it's one of those goals that will be talked about for years. Veteran keeper Neil Sullivan came off his line, and played a clearance out wide, though it fell short of the half-way line. Bell, out wide on the left, took a touch and fired the ball back towards the goalmouth from 45 yards - and even with a couple of defenders back there, it sailed in, to give us the lead in spectacular fashion.

We almost made it 2-0 shortly afterwards, when Donny failed to clear their lines, and Stephen Wright crashed a shot against the upright from 20 yards - the second game in a row that the right-back has come desperately close to scoring.

We were in control until the end of the first half, when Keiren Westwood had to make a couple of routine saves, from John Spicer and Richie Wellens.

Shortly before the interval, wingers Bell and Henderson broke forward and almost combined to score, but we went in 1-0 up at the break and just about deserved it.

Early in the second period, Westwood had to be alert to save from James Chambers, while Scott Dann had a header saved from an Aron Gunnarsson long-throw.

And as the second half wore on, Doncaster pushed forward more, causing us some worrying moments, without ever creating a really good chance for themselves, and we soaked up the long balls forward with relative ease.

The final minutes were a little bit nervous, and we brought on Isaac Osbourne to help shut up shop, but there was to be no late drama and we held on to record a very welcome win.

A pair of childish mistakes handed victory to high-ish-flying Preston and continued our poor run, in a poor game from which we could have taken something on another day.

Clinton Morrison's long-awaited first goal of 2009 set us on our way to what would have been a first ever league win at Deepdale but, well, you know the rest. Same old story, same old City.

We started the game well, albeit without creating any clear-cut chances, but the first efforts on goal came from Preston, who saw strikers Stephen Elliott and Jon Parkin both missing the target from invasive Chris Sedgwick crosses.

But we took the lead, thanks almost entirely to a maurading run down the right flank from Stephen Wright, who was played in by Guillame Beuzelin, then played a lovely one-two with Jordan Henderson before rifling a shot into the back of the net from just inside the area.

Well, that's how it looked. Unfortunately, Wright's first goal for the club - a rarity for a full-back who has only netted twice during his long career - was denied by Morrison, who got the faintest of final touches.

A lead is a lead, and Morrison will be glad to have scored his first goal for ten weeks, but one senses that it would have meant a lot more to Wright who hasn't scored in over five years.

Preston had a couple of chances to hit back, with Scott Dann blocking an effort and Elliott blasting over, but Keiren Westwood wasn't really being tested in our goal at all.

Mid-way through the half, we should have gone further ahead, with Morrison virtually passing the ball to the Preston keeper from Henderson's cross, when he should have scored, and then a foul on Henderson resulting in the on-loan winger being booked for diving, when we probably should have had our first penalty of 2009.

Disaster struck when Preston won a free-kick some distance from goal for a foul on Parkin, and Ross Wallace swung the ball in, only for Ben Turner to power a header into his own net. Why, Ben, why?

The PA man's sense of humour in announcing it as Ben Turner's first goal for Preston North End only underlined the cruel reality that the big defender has never scored for us, despite clearly possessing finishing ability at the wrong end!

Before half-time, Freddy Eastwood had a moment of solo brilliance - well, near-brilliance. He turned his marker inside out and fired in a cracking shot from the edge of the area, but with the keeper beaten, it came back off the post, and the teams went in level at the break.

The second half was fairly unpretty, though Turner almost scored at the right end, with a header that was blocked, while Parkin went close for the hosts.

It was hard to see how Preston have won so many games here this season, as they did not look brilliant, though there was always a latent goal-threat, particularly from defender Sean St. Ledger who scored the winner here last season.

They got a winner though, and it was largely the blunder of a largely untroubled Keiren Westwood, who took a free-kick that was flat and short, and picked up just inside the Preston half by Paul McKenna, who lobbed the ball back over the top to Jon Parkin. Parkin calmly rounded Westwood and slotted home to make it 2-1 and complete the comeback.

We huffed and puffed in the final 20 minutes, and Morrison had an effort saved, while subs Aron Gunnarsson and Robbie Simpson added some enthusiasm at least, but there was to be no equaliser.

We've now lost four games in a row, and our defence - once so solid under Coleman - has conceded twice every time.

It's hard to see where our next win is coming from and the late play-off push now seems but a distant pipedream as we begin looking nervously over our shoulders at the bottom three.

The Sky Blues lost, as they always seem to, to Bristol City, despite putting up a decent show in a close game.

Despite some changes in personnel, the hangover from the Chelsea game was evident, and while we probably deserved a 0-0, we were never going to get one here, given our recent record against the club, and with Phil Crossley refereeing.

Freddy Eastwood again started the game playing behind the front two, and was almost rewarded with an early goal, but his breakaway run ended with Adriano Basso denying his soft shot.

Basso then did well to take care of Jordan Henderson's pass intended for Leon Best, before Keiren Westwood was tested at the other end by Michael McIndoe.

Former Sky Blues striker Stern John was having a fairly quiet game, but Westwood had to be alert to collect from his feet after a free-kick routine, before making a fine save from McCombe's header after a corner.

But we created chances too, with Henderson and Best both having efforts saved, and defensively we looked like we might have one of those games where every one is a hero, and Westwood could stop anything.

Best had a goal disallowed for a foul, probably fairly, and the half ended with an excellent Marcus Hall clearance from Stern John's deflected effort.

Even though it was Bristol City, at half-time it definitely felt as though we might get something out of the game, even though it was backs-to-the-wall at times.

Clinton Morrison had a chance early in the second half, getting on the end of a pinpoint cross from Henderson, but his shot went wide, and Morrison's long wait for a goal continued.

And any chance of a repeat of the script at St. Andrews or Hillsborough were ended after the hour mark when Bristol took the lead from a corner.

Scottish left-back Jamie McAllister doesn't score many goalsat all, and had never scored at this level in English football. So, of course, he's delighted to be playing against us, and he picked up the ball 30 yards out after the corner routine, and fired in a long-range shot like he does it all the time. For fucks sake.

A minute later, McAllister had another shot - this time saved by Westwood, and our attempts to hit back seemed in vain, with centre-halves Ben Turner and James McPake both pushing forward and both having shots saved, though our actual strikers seemed to have given up.

But with our defenders playing upfield we left gaps at the back, which were eventually exploited. Midfielder Lee Johnson is another Bristol City player who hadn't scored for a long time... so of course, he was there to tap in a simple cross on the counter-attack to double the home side's advantage. Ho hum.

At 2-0 down with ten minutes to go, we weren't likely to get back into it, and sub Dele Adebola almost made it even worse for us late on, but was brought down by James McPake - the yellow card for the unproven new signing probably better than suffering the indignity of Dele scoring against us again!

Statistically this season, Bristol City are meant to be draw specialists at home, but then Cardiff are also 'draw specialists', and these are now the only two teams to do a double over us this season.

There's something very wrong if we routinely lose to teams that most are able to take a point from, and while Bristol are in with a strong chance now, we can pretty much kiss our own slim play-off chances goodbye now.

The FA Cup dream is over, and the biggest crowd to watch CCFC at the Ricoh saw their heroes well beaten, though not disgraced, by one of the biggest clubs in the world today.

Chelsea fielded their strongest possible side, and we have a few injury problems to contend with, so there were few natural levellers, and we started off nervously, as if daunted by the occasion.

Didier Drogba is very much returning to form under new manager Guus Hiddink, and in the second minute he flashed a shot across the face of goal having got goal-side of our defence.

It served as a warning for what was to come, and the Ivory Coast striker gave the illustrious visitors the lead shortly afterwards.

The usually-composed Scott Dann was put under pressure by Drogba who broke free, and although he took the ball out wide, he was able to finish from a tight-angle, with Keiren Westwood beaten, and Marcus Hall just not quite able to clear off the line despite a valiant effort.

Strangely, conceding the goal seemed to calm us down, and we played better after that.

Freddy Eastwood held on to his starting place, but in a new position, playing just behind the front two of Clinton Morrison and Leon Best, and it was Eastwood who looked our best attacking option, with a couple of shots saved by Petr Cech.

Best also had a great chance when he got one-on-one with the keeper, but having robbed a defender and done the hard part, his finish was spectacularly poor as he ballooned it over the bar.

Chelsea always looked threatening, of course, and Westwood had to make a great save from a Frank Lampard free-kick.

We weren't getting many decisions from the referee, and perhaps should have had a free-kick in a good position ourselves on a couple of occasions.

But at half-time we were only one goal down, making a game of it, and having a fairly good time to boot.

Shortly after the break we had a strong penalty claim turned down for a foul on Best, and were still being terrorised by Drogba at the other end - every time he was touched, Chelsea seemed to get a free-kick.

It was a shame that Chelsea's killer second goal actually game at a time when we were on top and piling on the pressure.

We won a corner, and then a succession of throws, and were using Aron Gunnarsson's big weapon to cause them problems at the back. After Drogba and Alex collided with one another and went off the pitch to receive treatment, we had a chance to launch a long throw into the box against only nine men.

Well, it seemed like a good opportunity, but after the throw, Droba and Alex came back on, and when Chelsea cleared their lines there was a sickeningly one-sided breakaway on, which saw them running the length of the pitch, and defender Alex eventually beating Westwood to make it 2-0.

In our hearts we knew that was probably it, and while Westwood made another great save from Lampard, and Morrison had a chance to get us on the scoresheet, there was a sense of inevitability about the tie now as Chelsea really don't concede many goals.

There were no more goals before the final whistle, but plenty of celebrations, and instead of leaving, the capacity crowd stayed until the end to applaud the players, after our most successful FA Cup campaign for 11 years.

We had battled hard and done better against Chelsea than some Premiership sides have done this season - well done guys.

The Sky Blues preperations for the big cup game against Chelsea went poorly with a controversial defeat to promotion-chasing Sheffield United that ended our recent unbeaten run.

This was a big, big game, and a win could have really put us in the play-off picture, so it's perhaps strange that Chris Coleman chose to rotate the sequad significantly.

It was a scrappy game, with all three goals coming from defenders, but the serious talking point was the key first goal, which didn't appear to have crossed the line at all, yet which gave the Blades a fortuitous lead.

We started brightly, and the unfamiliar strike pairing of Freddy Eastwood and Robbie Simpson looked quite lively, with Eastwood having an early shot saved by Paddy Kenny after Simpson's through-ball.

Micky Doyle also tried his luck from long-range, going just wide, before Jordan Henderson had a chance go begging.

The visitors offered very little going forward, until first-half stoppage time, when a little goalmouth scramble saw Keiren Westwood making a double save, first from Darius Henderson, and then the rebound from Leigh Bromby.

But, bizarrely, the linesman pointed for a goal, even though it did not seem to have crossed the line. It was a cruel end to a half in which we had been the better side.

Not long after the restart things went from bad to worse. Key man Danny Fox had been struggling with an injury and had been replaced by Isaac Osbourne, and Ozzy's first meaningful action was to concede a free-kick.

The ball was swung in and Blades captain Chris Morgan headed in to make it, quite undeservedly, 2-0 to the visitors.

It shell-shocked us, and the belated introduction of top scorer Clinton Morrison didn't change too much, as he is woefully short of goals in recent weeks.

We pulled a goal back with 20 minutes to go, with a set-piece seen already this season: an Aron Gunnarsson long-throw headed in by Scott Dann. Maybe the comeback would be on - and we would have deserved a point at least from the game.

But instead, United began to create more themselves, with subs Halford and O'Toole both forcing saves from Westwood - although with these officials, one had to worry that any save he made could possibly be deemed a 'goal' at any time!

Jordan Henderson and sub Guillame Beuzelin had late chances for us, but the damage had long since been done by the earlier decision, and we slumped to a defeat that does our league aspirations absolutely no fucking good at all.

It's not the first time eccentric officiating has cost us this season, and we were desperately unlucky not to beat United earlier in the campaign, so tonight's result adds insult to injury.

Can we recover from this with a big, big upset against Chelsea? Don't bet on it!