Poyet comes to Chelsea's rescue

Eirik Bakke and Dennis Wise battle

Chelsea 1-1 Leeds

Uruguayan midfielder Gustavo Poyet rescued a point for Chelsea at Stamford Bridge after Australian striker Mark Viduka had headed Leeds in front.

Viduka scored after an hour to add another to his four-goal tally from his side's last Premiership outing against Liverpool and it looked like the visitors were on their way to further success.

The Elland Road club qualified for the second phase of the Champions League with a midweek draw against Italian giants AC Milan and were heading for an impressive win before a triple Chelsea substitution preceded Poyet's equaliser.

Former Leeds striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink seemed the most likely player to open the scoring during the first half as he kept the opposing defence and goalkeeper Paul Robinson on their mettle.

Robinson has stated that Hasselbaink has the hardest shot in football and the Dutchman certainly tried to re-inforce that opinion with a number of stinging efforts before the interval.

His first opening arrived after 14 minutes when Leeds defender Lucas Radebe could not intercept a long diagonal Chelsea pass into Hasselbaink's path.

Robinson came out of his goal to try and save at his former team-mates feet and, although he did not gather the ball, he did manage to reduce Hasselbaink's angle on goal.

Consequently the Chelsea striker's shot was rushed and lacked power which made it easy for Leeds' Lee Bowyer to clear.

Bowyer then had a 22-yard curling effort go narrwoly wide during a first-half in which referee Graham Poll flashed a rash of yellow cards with a number of confrontations between opposing players taking place.

Hasselbaink was a constant threat and he was off target with a header from a Gianfranco Zola cross after 38 minutes.

He tested Robinson with two more well-struck shots soon after but the Leeds goalkeeper proved up to the task.

Despite their midweek European exertions, Leeds were proving a tough proposition to break down and their pressurising of Chelsea when trying to regain possession was a feature of the game.

The home side then fell behind when the in-form Viduka headed in a Leeds corner on the hour for his 11th goal of the season and Chelsea took on the look of a team condemned to defeat.

However, Stamford Bridge manager Claudio Ranieri made three substitutions, bringing on Jody Morris, Tore andre Flo and Eidur Gudjohnsen.

The move paid almost immediate dividends. Chelsea midfielder Poyet had a quickly taken free-kick pushed over the bar by Robinson but scored from the resultant corner.

After Hasselbaink had seen two shots saved, the ball was headed across the goal by Flo and Poyet headed in from six yards.

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Chelsea: De Goey, Babayaro, Le Saux, Desailly, Poyet, Hasselbaink, Wise, Melchiot, Ferrer, Dalla Bona, Zola.
Subs: Jokanovic, Flo, Morris, Gudjohnsen, Cudicini.

Leeds United: Robinson, Kelly, Harte, Dacourt, Radebe, Viduka, Bowyer, Smith, Mills, Bakke, Matteo.
Subs: Huckerby, Jones, Hay, Burns, Milosevic.

Referee: G Poll (Tring).