Chelsea 5-1 Shamrock Rovers: Nightmare before Christmas as Stephen Bradley's side concede five
A couple of unforced errors combined with some clinical finishing put Shamrock Rovers to the sword.
Chelsea 5-1 Shamrock Rovers
Shamrock Rovers suffered a nightmare before Christmas at Stamford Bridge - as they wrapped up the league phase of their historic European adventure with a first defeat of the campaign.
The result sends the Hoops into February’s play-offs, as they agonisingly miss out on a top-eight finish on goal-difference.
They could have done without gift-wrapping two early goals as a pair of defensive howlers set Chelsea on their way to a comfortable win, with teenage striker Marc Guiu scoring a first-half hat-trick.
He doesn’t celebrate his 19th birthday for another fortnight, but the presents arrived early for the talented young Spanish striker.
He could hardly believe his luck as, first, a combination of Darragh Burns and Leon Pohls set him on his way, and then Dan Cleary got in on the act.
Rovers fans, who were vocal throughout, did have a moment to remember when Markus Poom drew the visitors level just three minutes after Guiu’s opener.
It was a touching moment for the Estonia international, whose celebration was a tribute to the fact that he became a new dad only last Friday.
Rovers’ joy was short-lived, however, with Chelsea restoring their lead eight minutes later, and then adding two more before the break.
The Hoops will be kicking themselves, though, for such a sloppy undoing of their tireless defensive work.
By the time Guiu opened the scoring, with 23 minutes on the clock, the Premier League giants were on 87 percent possession, but were struggling to break their guests down.
That was down in no small part to the outstanding work of Rovers skipper Roberto Lopes. At times it seemed as if there were two of him on the pitch, as he seemed to get in the way of every Chelsea attack.
He produced crucial challenges to halt Guiu in the second minute, then blocked the Spaniard’s 11th minute effort, and moments later got his body in the way of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s effort.
Lopes was desprately unlucky that another intervention, this time to deny Christopher Nkunku a shot, saw the ball spill to Dewsbury-Hall for Chelsea’s third.
Unfortunately, the focus that Lopes showed wasn’t shared across the rest of the Rovers defence.
There was a sign of things to come when Cleary gave the ball away after just three minutes, leading to a Joshua Acheampong shot that flew over the crossbar.
But Guiu wasn’t as forgiving in the 23rd minute when Burns and Pohls showed themselves to be on different wavelengths.
With Burns’ eye on a lofted ball forward, Pohls advanced from goal and stepped to his right, meaning he wasn’t where his wing-back thought he would be.
So both players could only look on in horror as Burns’ back-header flew past the keeper, and Guiu chased it in and finished from close range, despite the efforts of Cleary to get back.
Then, just three minutes later, came the moment Rovers fans had dreamed of. Dylan Watts’ outswinging corner made it all the way to Poom at the back post and his left-foot volley took a nick off a defender on its way past goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.
The Hoops were in dreamland, but it didn’t last too long as Cleary, in the 34th minute, undercooked his backpass to Pohls.
Guiu’s anticipation was excellent and his pace got him to the ball ahead of the goalkeeper. He took it outside Poom and finished from the tightest of angles.
Pohls almost gifted Guiu a third when his effort to dribble past the striker stopped. Luckily for the German netminder, Poom read the danger and made a goalline clearance.
Chelsea’s third came five minutes before the break when Dewsbury-Hall was in the right place to slot home from 12 yards.
And Guiu completed his first-half hat-trick with the last action before the break, as he sent a glancing header past Pohls from Noni Madueke’s cross.
A month on from his display in England’s 5-0 rout against Ireland at Wembley, the forward was playing a key role once again in a five-goal display against an Irish side.
Chelsea quickly signalled after the break that they weren’t going to take their foot off the gas, and Pohls had to save smartly from Nkunku, minutes before the France international teed up Marc Cucurella for the hosts’ fifth.
Cucurella’s brilliant first-touch took him inside the challenge of Cleary and he drilled a low shot in off the left-hand post from the edge of the area.
There was still time for more Lopes brilliance, as the Dublin-born Cape Verde defender produced yet another block, this time to deny Tyrique George.
Cleary missed a great chance late on to grab a consolation, while sub Graham Burke drew a save from Jorgensen.
It’s the play-offs for Rovers and the last-16 for Chelsea, the overwhelming favourites to win the tournament outright after six convincing league phase wins.
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