Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's tenth goal of the season earned Chelsea a share of the spoils as his strike cancelled out Fabrizio Ravanelli's opener for Derby County at Pride Park this afternoon. In a hugely entertaining contest, both sides had several chances to win, but inspired goalkeeping from eventual Man of the Match Mark Bosnich and Derby's Mart Poom kept the sides locked at 1-1 following strikes early in either half.
Derby were the better side for the majority of the opening period with the on-loan Benito Carbone and Ravanelli causing plenty of problems, and The Rams got off to a dream start when the latter found the net in the sixth minute. Bosnich reacted well to a shot from Darryl Powell but the rebound broke to Benito Carbone, who turned the ball sideways to his fellow Italian, and the former Juventus striker made no mistake from close range.
Bosnich was instrumental in keeping the visitors on level terms thereafter as Derby belied their lowly position with some wonderful attacking football, most notably with a fine double save to deny the lively Carbone. However, Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri made three crucial changes at half-time, introducing Stanic, Lampard and Forssell for Melchiot, Jokanovic and Zola, and it was to deliver an immediate reward.
Within three minutes of the restart The Blues were level, when a cross from Zenden was only cleared to the edge of the penalty area and Hasselbaink finished with conviction with a low drive past Poom into the corner. Poom and Bosnich again exchanged save after save as both sides pushed for a winner, but Chelsea, improved by the balance of Lampard in midfield, looked the more likely to find the breakthrough.
A scuffle involving Ravanelli and Marcel Desailly saw both players booked within two minutes of each other as the game drew to a close, but there was still time for Bosnich to deny Ravanelli at point blank range when a goal seemed inevitable in the dying minutes. Derby now move above Southampton into 17th on goal difference, while Chelsea climb to eighth, six points behind leaders Aston Villa.
Filed by Shane Murray
