Chelsea negotiated their UEFA Cup first round first leg tie with Levski Sofia with expected ease at Stamford Bridge this evening, winning 3-0 to leave them perfectly poised to make the second round. Eidur Gudjohnsen, who has been restricted to just three minutes of first team action this season, was handed his first start of the campaign due to leading scorer Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's two-game European ban.
And the 23-year-old Icelandic international striker repaid manager Claudio Ranieiri's faith in him by hitting a goal in either half to put The Blues in the driving seat. Summer signing Frank Lampard completed the scoring in the final minute, to give Chelsea a healthy lead for the second leg next week.
Elsewhere, Aston Villa had a more difficult time at Villa Park, going down 3-2 to Croatia's NK Varteks, despite enjoying the majority of possession. The visitors employed a counter-attacking game as Villa pushed for a deserved first half lead, but the Croats opened the scoring against the run of play in the final minute of the first half through Sasa Bjelanovic.
Villa levelled nine minutes after the break through Juan Pablo Angel, and the Columbian added a second in the 69th minute to cancel out Veldin Karic's 63rd minute effort. However, Bjelanovic claimed a late winner to give Varteks the upper hand going into next week's second leg.
Meanwhile, Ipswich Town maintained their excellent home form in European competition with a 1-1 draw with Torpedo Moscow. Titus Bramble rescued a draw for George Burley's side with a calmly taken goal in the 85th minute to make amends for his part in the visitors' opener in the 14th minute. The young defender gave the ball away to Alexander Shirko, who fed Torpedo's top scorer Dmitry Vyasmikin, and the Russian striker slotted through Sereni's legs from 10 yards for his 17th goal of the season.
Meanwhile, Kilmarnock drew 1-1 with Norway's Viking Stavanger and compatriots Hibernian lost 2-0 away to Greak side AEK Athens. Finally, Republic of Ireland international Phil Babb scored for Sporting Lisbon in their 3-0 win over FC Midtjylland at the same stage of UEFA's second competition.
Filed by Shane Murray
