Rovers make Chelsea pay the penalty

Published on Thursday 3 December 2009 09:00

BLACKBURN'S No.2 Neil McDonald was delighted as his side saw off Chelsea to book a Carling Cup semi-final clash with Aston Villa.

Blackburn won 4-3 on penalties after last night's match at Ewood Park ended 3-3 after extra-time.

For housebound Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce, this was a real pick-me-up after his heart surgery. McDonald will hand back control to Allardyce for Saturday's home game with Liverpool, but had a parting shot at Blues boss Carlo Ancelotti. He said: "I hope they will regret fielding a weakened side, maybe they should have looked at our home form."

Ancelotti defended his decision to field a shadow side, and then to use all three substitutes at half-time before Solomon Kalou had to go off injured leaving Chelsea with ten men.

Ancelotti said: "We had priorities this week with league games against Arsenal and Manchester City. I felt we fielded a strong team. But in the first half they did not play well. That is why I used all three substitutes."

Rovers led early on through Nikola Kalinic, with Chelsea turning things round after the break with goals from substitute Didier Drogba and Kalou.

Brett Emerton equalised, with an extra-time penalty from Benni McCarthy putting the hosts ahead before Paulo Ferreira's late equaliser forced penalties.