Chelsea 4 Brentford 0
Four second-half goals secured a comprehensive victory for Chelsea in the FA Cup replay at Stamford Bridge.
Juan Mata, Oscar, Frank Lampard and John Terry scored for the Blues, who will visit Middlesbrough in the fifth round.
Rescued by Fernando Torres’ late equaliser when these teams drew 2-2 at Griffin Park, Chelsea were again caused problems by Brentford early on.
But Mata broke the deadlock 10 minutes into the second half, firing into the bottom corner from 20 yards after Demba Ba had flicked on Petr Cech’s long ball forward.
Oscar flicked home from close range for the second before Lampard tucked away Mata’s low cross and Terry headed in the fourth.
Brentford did an excellent job of suffocating Chelsea before Mata’s breakthrough, although they also rode their luck.
Oscar went closest for the holders in the first half, scuffing a shot against the post from six yards and also seeing an effort deflected over by Harlee Dean.
And Lampard missed a good chance when he turned Branislav Ivanovic’s right-wing cross wide of the target.
But the Bees had their moments too, with the impressive Adam Forshaw twice shooting wide.
And they were unlucky when Marcello Trotta stuck the ball in the net only for Brentford to be awarded a free-kick as the whistle had already been blown for a foul on Forshaw by David Luiz.
Brentford’s gameplan hinged on keeping the game goalless before bringing Harry Forrester off the bench in the second half.
Unfortunately for the League One side, they conceded the all-important opening goal just as Forrester was preparing to come on.
Keeper Simon Moore, who did well to save a Lampard header just after the break, was unable to keep Mata’s low shot out of his net.
Luck went against Brentford again for the second goal, although they were undone by a mistake from Toumani Diagouraga.
After the midfielder gave away possession, Ivanovic pulled the ball back from the right and Oscar’s clever touch took a slight deflection of Tom Adeyemi, helping the ball under Moore and an off-balance Dean on the line.
Worse followed for Uwe Rosler’s men when Lampard netted his 199th Chelsea goal and Terry nodded in Oscar’s 81st-minute cross.
Chelsea: (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Cole; Luiz, Lampard (Bertrand 81); Moses (Hazard 65), Mata (Benayoun 76), Oscar, Ba.
Subs not used: Turnbull, Ramires, Torres, Azpilicueta.
Brentford (4-1-4-1): Moore, Logan, Dean, Craig, Bidwell; Forshaw (Saunders 78), Adeyemi, Diagouraga Reeves 72), Douglas, Donaldson, Trotta (Forrester 55).
Subs not used: Lee, Barron, Hodson, Hayes.
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This post was last modified on 18/02/2013