Carbone Leaves Chelsea Feeling Blue  (Sky Sports)

 Bradford City 2-0 Chelsea
Windass 24, Carbone 74
FA Carling Premiership

Adrian Sherling reporting

Bradford put in their best performance since joining the Premiership to grab their first win of the season against big-spending Chelsea.

Two marvellous goals by Dean Windass and Benito Carbone, his first for the club, earned the home side three richly-deserved points.

Carbone, on his full debut, was superb, while Dan Petrescu clearly enjoyed playing against his former team-mates. Chelseas expensive new boy Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink partnered Gianfranco Zola in attack, but a leg injury prevented Saturday's hero Mario Stanic from playing.

Bradfords first goal of the season was a pass-and-move cracker. They pinged the ball around midfield, switching from right to left with ease. Lee Sharpe, getting back to his best after a troubled spell, picked out Windass at the far post and the former Aberdeen man headed powerfully across the goalkeeper.

It was all that they deserved after they took the game to their opponents. Such was their domination, that within five minutes of taking the lead, they should have been two up.

Then a mix-up between Emerson Thome and Ed de Goey almost led to an embarrassing own goal. With Carbone ready to pounce, the Brazilian put his back-header past his own goalkeeper and was grateful to see it roll inches past the post.

However, while the Bantams were superb, a huge improvement on their stuttering start to the season at Anfield, Chelsea were awful. Their passing was poor and their tackling even worse.

Tore Andre Flo, on for the ineffective Hasselbaink, and Zola both had second-half chances to equalise, but found Matt Clarke is imperious form in the Bantams goal.

The Blues were inching back into the game when, with 16 minutes remaining, Windass slid the ball to Carbone 30 yards out. The Italians audacious right-footer seemed easy fodder for de Goey, yet the Dutchman could only help it inside the near post.

Chelseas away form will certainly be a worry for manager Gianluca Vialli. Since their Champions League capitulation in Barcelona, the Blues have failed to secure even a point away from home and this was their fifth successive defeat on the road.

Their problem last season centred around failing to get results at the less-fashionable venues. That does not seem to have changed.

Bradford: Clarke, Nolan, McCall, Wetherall, Carbone (Myers 89), O'Brien, Windass, Sharpe (Whalley 79), Atherton, Petrescu (Ward 76), Hopkin.
Subs Not Used: Beagrie, Davison.
Goals: Windass 24, Carbone 74.

Chelsea: de Goey, Babayaro (Harley 46), Desailly, Poyet, Hasselbaink (Flo 56), Wise, Melchiot (Panucci 63), Di Matteo, Morris, Zola, Thome.
Subs Not Used: Gudjohnsen, Cudicini.
Booked: Wise.

Att: 17,872
Ref: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City).

The Soccerlinks Hit List