Drogba Digs Chelsea Out of Trouble After Mourinho Reshuffle

There was a period last night when Petr Cech must have felt condemned only to suffer in this corner of Berkshire, yet by the end there was redemption to be had in victory. Chelsea, outplayed through the first period, recovered breathlessly courtesy of the sheer boldness of their manager. With the goalkeeper relieved and Jose Mourinho triumphant, last year's traumas in this arena can truly be forgotten now.

Mourinho's reaction at the final whistle, punching the air as he roared his approval, was a demonstration both of the resistance encountered against a slick Reading side and of the scars that were inflicted here 10 months ago. Cech had been carried off on that occasion, his skull fractured following an inadvertent clash with Stephen Hunt in the opening 20 seconds. The fall-out from that incident, and the subsequent departure of the reserve goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini on a stretcher that night, had tarnished the build-up.

Yet while this game was played with a real edge and punctuated with yellow cards and a late red for Kalifa Cissé, it ended with a hug between Cech and the excellent Hunt. The goalkeeper had been culpable for the home side's goal. The visitors needed the manager's tactical re-invention at the interval, with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Florent Malouda switched to wing-backs and an extra striker thrust on. Mourinho, however mellow, will always be a risk taker.

"I knew it was a big gamble but, if one day it doesn't work, like it didn't in my first season at Newcastle [in an FA Cup tie], I'll accept the criticism," said the Portuguese. "I'll sleep well because I tried. The worst thing in life is when you don't try. That's the message I give to my kids all the time and, in my job, I do the same. If, in the second minute of the second half, somebody was injured and we'd have to play with 10 men for 43 minutes, fair enough. That's a risk that's part of the job."

Chelsea had needed his radical overhaul. They had been becalmed throughout a first half dominated by Reading but, from nowhere, generated such blistering momentum in the moments after the interval as to re-establish their class. Within two minutes of the re-start, Claudio Pizarro and Didier Drogba had combined for Frank Lampard to burst beyond Nicky Shorey's lunge and spear the visitors level. With Reading still dazed, Drogba exchanged passes with Salomon Kalou and curled a stunning second beyond the despairing Marcus Hahnemann from 20 yards to thrust them ahead.

"The players were brave," added Mourinho. "It's not easy for Shaun to play right-back, for Glen Johnson to play centre-half or for attacking players to have defensive tasks." The manager had already lost Ricardo Carvalho to a thigh problem, though his likely absence will be tempered by the return of John Terry from knee-ligament damage. The England captain trained with the reserves yesterday and will be available for England's qualifiers against Israel and Russia next month.

For Reading there was no disgrace in this defeat, even if theirs was a sense of deflation at the end. Steve Coppell's side had been dignified in the fall-out from last year's clash but they tore into this rematch so breathlessly that Chelsea were initially forced into retreat. The hosts were scintillating in the first half, hitting the post through John Oster from Hunt's fine cross and gaining a lead they merited through the substitute André Bikey after Cech's rare mistake.

Shorey's free-kick had been pumped into the area from distance on the half-hour, with Ivar Ingimarsson jumping to loop a header into the six-yard box. The goalkeeper came to claim but, perhaps distracted by the arm thrust up inadvisedly by Kevin Doyle or by the presence of Steve Sidwell and Tal Ben Haim immediately in front of him, missed his punch. The loose ball bounced through the panicked clutter for Bikey to convert with his first touch. Other chances were passed up, Cech claiming Doyle's shot on the turn, and, while the locals rejoiced in their lead, Coppell implied the home side's ultimate frustration had its roots in profligacy.

"We might have been further ahead at half-time but we knew they'd change it," he said. "We just didn't know how they'd change it. Jose was brave but it's easier to be brave when you've got £70m worth of talent on the bench. He's a terrific manager but all the big teams have got bigger guns than everyone else, more toys, more options. But consistently he has done it and it's been effective. Today was the same."

The Reading manager was disappointed with Cissé's dismissal on his home debut, the Frenchman booked for a second time when he ran his studs down Pizarro's shin 16 minutes from time, even if the Peruvian's reaction was somewhat dramatic. "His sock was laddered so it must have been a bad injury given that it was over his shin pad," added Coppell with a wry smile. "Chelsea knew they were in a game here. The way Jose celebrated at the end shows how important this victory was."