Blues still have it all to do

Chelsea 2 Viking FK 1

The Blues had been heading to Norway for the second leg in a fortnight with a two-goal cushion, thanks to goals in either half from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Enrique de Lucas, but Ranieri’s men eased up and substitute Wright scored with a far-post header, leaving the Norwegians needing to win 1-0 in the return to dump the Premiership team out of the competition.

After intense pressure Hasselbaink grabbed the opening goal after 42 minutes when he pounced on an error by Viking skipper Brede Hangeland, who failed to cut out Jesper Gronkjaer’s low cross. The Dutchman slipped the ball past goalkeeper Frode Olsen and it went into the net off the legs of Hangeland. After the break, Frank Lampard was guilty of some horrific shooting and it looked as if Chelsea might be going to Scandinavia in a fortnight with a slender first leg lead, but Quique De Lucas gave them further breathing space with his first goal for the club after 68 minutes. Morris played a delightful ball into the box from deep in his own half and De Lucas was left unchallenged to lob the ball over Olsen.

But then Wright struck on 89 minutes to the disgust of the home fans.

CHELSEA: Cudicini, Stanic, Gallas, Desailly, Huth, Gronkjaer, Morris, De Lucas, Zola, Gudjohnsen, Hasselbaink.

VIKING FK: Olsen, Dahl, Hangeland, Kuivasto, Pereira, Fuglestad, Sanne, Nygaard, Kopteff, Berre, Nevland. Subs: Nordtun, Espevoll, Berland, Ahmed, Sorli, Sigurdsson, Wright.

Ipswich 1

FK Sartid 1

ALUN ARMSTRONG preserved Ipswich’s 40-year unbeaten home European record with a second-half leveller against Sartid.

The Yugoslavians took a first-half lead in the UEFA Cup first-round tie through Nenad Mirosavljevic but Armstrong ensured the Suffolk club’s run was extended to 30 Euro matches without defeat at Portman Road. An intricate build-up provided Sartid with a 32nd-minute lead. Mirosavljevic laid the ball off to midfielder Demir Ramovic 30 yards from goal and ran onto a return pass, which squeezed its way past Mark Venus, to lift over the advancing Andy Marshall from a central position.

Ipswich picked up the tempo on the resumption and were rewarded just 10 minutes in as Armstrong, scorer of both goals against Inter last season, equalised. With the Sartid defence attempting to play the offside trap to John McGreal’s punt upfield, Armstrong crept round the back, controlled and spun the ball beyond the giant Zilic with a volley into the ground.

IPSWICH: Marshall, Wilnis, Clapham, McGreal, Hreidarsson, Venus, Ambrose, Holland, Miller, Counago, Armstrong.

FK SARTID: Zilic, Paunovic, Spasic, Socanac, Radosavljevic, Bogdanovic, Ramovic, Vaskovic, Kekezovic, Mirosavljevic, Zecevic.

Leeds 1

Metalurg Zaporizhzhya 0

MICHAEL BRIDGES made his long-awaited return from a two-year injury nightmare to help spark Leeds to victory on what was an otherwise European night to forget.

The arrival of Bridges in the 65th minute provided the loudest cheer of the night second only to the goal he helped set up for Alan Smith 10 minutes from time.

Bridges appeared to push Oleg Raty off a long ball from Gary Kelly before laying it back for Smith, who had the simple task of sliding it home with his left foot from six yards.

But the Elland Road side made heavy weather of their UEFA Cup first round first-leg clash with the Ukrainian unknowns from the outset.

Leeds had their chances through Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate along with Eirik Bakke but they could muster nothing.

The Leeds fans lifted the roof off Elland Road when Bridges took to the pitch midway through the second half for Viduka - prompting a chorus of ‘One Michael Bridges’ - while Stephen McPhail replaced Dacourt.

And their chant grew louder on 80 minutes when he helped create the goal.

LEEDS: Robinson, Kelly, Radebe, Woodgate, Harte, Bakke, Dacourt, Bowyer, Kewell, Smith, Viduka.

METALURG ZAPORIZHZHYA: Glushchenko, Valuta, Raty, Klyuchyk, Visevic, Dodic, Vasconcelos, Milosavijevic, Smirnov, Akopyan, Modebadze.