Chelsea rallies behind Drogba to beat Reading

Aug 15, 2007, 23:35 GMT

Reading, England - Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba scored goals five minutes apart in the second half as Chelsea overcame a one-goal halftime deficit to beat Reading 2-1 at the Madejski Stadium on Wednesday.

Andre Bikey put the home side ahead with a first-half strike but Chelsea stormed back in the second half to record another one-goal win. The Blues have now won their first two games of the season after falling behind 1-0.

The first half began with both teams finding space to create and attacking goal. An early Reading corner kick nearly produced a goal as Ivar Ingimarsson sent a header from the penalty spot wide of the right post.

Reading keeper Marcus Hahnemann was brilliant in goal against Manchester United on Sunday and his play carried over to the early part of the first half as he did well to handle a cross along the ground from Paulo Ferreira without spilling a rebound.

Hahnemann's counterpart, Chelsea keeper Petr Cech did not fare so well early one and he allowed the Royals to grab the initiative in the 29th minute. A long ball from midfield was flicked towards goal by Ingimarsson and into a crowd at the top of the six-yard box. Cech went up to punch the ball clear but collided with a number of bodies in front of the net. He missed the ball and it fell for Bikey, who was left with an easy tap-in to put Reading ahead 1-0.

It was the second time in as many games that Chelsea fell behind, and they were nearly down two goals minutes later. Kevin Doyle sent a shot on goal from inside the box that was stopped by Cech, and John Oster made a nice run into space at the back post but he volleyed a cross off the post.

The Blues went into halftime down a goal, but it didn't take long for the London club to draw level.

Just two minutes after the restart, Lampard equalized for Chelsea after a couple of flicks by the team's strikers. Claudio Pizarro was brought on after halftime and he headed the ball to Drogba at the edge of the area. Drogba then nodded it into the path of Lampard, who was charging towards goal. The Chelsea captain split two defenders and then slid the ball past Hahnemann to make it 1-1.

Three minutes later Drogba put the visitors in front with a brilliant strike from outside the area. The Ivory Coast international took a pass from the right and struck it first-time with his right foot. He bent the ball around a defender and just inside the right post past a diving Hahnemann.

The home side was stunned by the onslaught but slowly recovered and got back into the game. However, the Royals had another player sent off in the second half at a crucial time as Kalifa Cisse picked up a second yellow card for catching Pizarro with a spike on his right foot.

Reading tried desperately in the final minutes to equalize but was unable to take anything away from the game.

In other Premiership action on Wednesday, Manchester United continued to struggle as it settled for its second consecutive draw to start the season, finishing 1-1 with Portsmouth. Birmingham and Sunderland split the points at St Andrews Stadium as Sunderland's Stern John scored in the 90th minute, Fulham downed Bolton 2-1 at Craven Cottage, Manchester City got a goal from Michael Johnson to beat Derby 1-0 and win its second game in as many tries and Wigan blanked Middlesbrough 1-0 on a goal from Antoine Sibierski.

© 2007 The Sports Network