Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1 (4-2 pens): Trippier nightmare run continues as he gifts Blues late equaliser and misses penalty

IT IS SURPRISING what you can do with a bunch of kids, old codgers, walking wounded and reserves under some lights.

Chelsea ultimately went through to the last four of a cup that no club with serious ideas of grandeur really should give a toss about.

Mykhailo Mudryk scored a last-minute equaliserAP

ReutersKieran Trippier had a night to forget as he missed a penalty in the shoot-out and gifted Chelsea their goal[/caption]

Đorđe Petrović saved Matt Ritchie’s penalty to send Chelsea throughEPA

GettyBenoit Badisahile miscontrolled the ball to allow Callum Wilson to score[/caption]

But the manner in which victory was secured underscores just why this competition never ceases to throw up classic games in the most unlikely circumstances.

Newcastle were 90 seconds away from recording their first win at Stamford Bridge in 11 years and inflicting another damaging defeat on Chelsea.

Only for the second example of calamitous defending in the same night to send the evening haywire and the game into penalty kicks.

Callum Wilson had given Newcastle the lead after 16 minutes with a gift of a goal thanks to a three-way cock up in the Chelsea back four.

But with seconds of normal time remaining, Blues sub Mykhailo Murdryk popped up to ram home a goal after which Stamford Bridge erupted.

Tempers did the same with the Ukrainian then getting involved in an ugly tangle with Toon’s Bruno Guimaraes just as ref Jarred Gillett blew for full time.

Both teams fielded reserve keepers, Newcastle had seven players out and one serving a ban for illegal betting. Chelsea had a 39-year-old in defence, neither first choice full backs and lost World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez after just half an hour.

Before the game came to an exhausting close, Toon winger Anthony Gordon would join the lengthy sick list at St James’ Park.

After 15 minutes of hi-energy, end-to-end football something gave and it was Chelsea with two howlers in the same passage of play that underlines just what Pochettino means when he talks about his young team and needing to learn.

From a Chelsea attack and an outswinging cross into the Newcastle area, left back Levi Colwill overhit a pass back into midfield and Wilson picked up the ball to drive deep into Chelsea territory.

Not many inside Stamford Bridge gave the striker much of a chance with three blue shirts surrounding him at close quarters: Thiago Silva, Moises Caicedo and Benoit Badiashile.

But Wilson plodded on into the Chelsea box with three defenders afraid to make a decisive challenge.

Between them a Brazil legend, Britain’s most expensive footballer and a young ambitious France international got in such a muddle that Wilson didn’t need to try very hard to make the crucial opening in front of goal.

Badiashile made the final, fateful, wobbly back pass off the inside of his heel and the ball spun for Wilson to curl a shot past Chelsea’s stand-in keeper Djordje Petrovic with ice-cool calm.

Wilson claimed his first goal since October having been part of Newcastle’s hefty sick list himself for a month with hamstring issues – a problem only too familiar down South at Chelsea as well.

It was ungainly and unlucky for Chelsea and fortune took another downturn when Fernandez was forced off after 31 minutes, clearly carrying a fitness hangover from the weekend.

The enforced introduction of striker Armando Broja meant a reshuffle for Chelsea who were giving as good as they got in a match of high tempo if not similar quality.

Stand-in skipper Conor Gallagher had sent an early warning by hitting the Newcastle bar in the seventh minute then put in an impressive skipper’s performance throughout..

Broja signed off the first half by latching onto a long punt upfield from Thiago Silva to volley into the arms of Dubravka in first-half injury time. Raheem Sterling also collided with United skipper Jamal Lascelles and claimed a penalty after coming off worse.

Gallagher tried the same trick with the same fruitless result in the dying minutes, taking a tumble under minimal contact from Tino Livramento.

The home team’s domination eventually paid off when another Chelsea sub Malo Gusto crossed from the right and Kieran Trippier – just back from a knock himself failed hopelessly to control the ball.

Mudryk latched on in seconds to ram home the equaliser and trigger a penalty shoot-out.

Trippier was Newcastle’s third spot kick taker and followed up his earlier mistake by missing from 12 yards.

Christopher Nkunku, making his first appearance for Chelsea because of a long-term injury then scored, piling all the pressure on Matt Ritchie.

Chelsea’s reserve keeper Djordje Petrovic guessed correctly and pushed the shot away to complete a lighting quick and dramatic turnaround to send them into the semi-final with a possible trip to glamorous Middlesbrough as a reward.

It is a remarkable night for The Blues who have suffered from a lack of fight this season with such a young and untried squad.

This win will provide them with buckets of confidence and offers them the chance to go back to Wembley for the first time since losing two cup finals in a row to Liverpool there in 2022.

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