Ten-man Chelsea rode their luck to reach the fourth round of the League Cup with a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win over Fulham after a 0-0 draw after extra time at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Andre Villas-Boas's side looked in trouble when Brazilian defender Alex was sent off two minutes into the second half for conceding a penalty with a professional foul.
But Pajtim Kasami hit the crossbar with the spot-kick and Chelsea managed to hold on to force a shoot-out.
Frank Lampard missed the Blues' first penalty but Moussa Dembele squandered his kick and Bryan Ruiz did the same, with replays inconclusive as to whether the ball crossed the line, as Chelsea scraped through.
Chelsea's win improved their miserable record of seven penalty shoot-out defeats from their previous eight attempts.
Salomon Kalou had fired narrowly off-target early on after Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku saw his shot saved from a lightning breakaway.
With half-time looming, Josh McEachran brilliantly burst into the box in what was his first appearance of the season and beat Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, with Daniel Sturridge poking home only to be flagged offside.
Injury was added to insult as Sturridge was forced from the field and, before Lampard could come on to replace him, Petr Cech was hurt colliding with Orlando Sa and failed to re-emerge for the second half.
Ross Turnbull came on and it got worse for Chelsea in an extraordinary opening two minutes after the restart.
Kalou fired into the side-netting after being released by Lampard and moments later Fulham won the penalty that saw Alex dismissed.
Ruiz's clever back-heel freed debutant Kerim Frei, who was brought down by Alex.
Referee Chris Foy deemed the Brazilian the last man and produced a red card, but Kasami failed to capitalise, smashing the penalty against the crossbar.
Foy denied the visitors a second spot-kick when Oriol Romeu - who was having a mixed full debut - shoved over Sa before Villas-Boas threw on John Terry for McEachran.
Turnbull pulled off a brilliant reaction stop to deny Kasami but then flapped at the resultant corner, which Chris Baird fired wide.
Frei and Kasami cleared off the line from a corner before the former's finish sailed wide at the other end under pressure from Turnbull.
In the shoot-out, Lampard's penalty was immediately saved by Schwarzer, with Bobby Zamora, David Luiz, Steve Sidwell and Terry all scoring before Turnbull's save from Dembele levelled matters.
Kalou, Baird and Florent Malouda then netted before Ruiz smashed Fulham's fifth against the crossbar.
Source: AFP
