Chelsea were made to wait for the floodgates to open as League Two Morecambe put up dogged resistance before going down 5-0 in the Football Association Cup third round at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
There were periods in the first half when the 87 places separating these sides in the pyramid could easily be forgotten, the team currently 23rd in the fourth tier leaving Enzo Maresca’s Champions League chasers puzzling over how they would pick their way through to round four.
That two of the five goals were blasted in from outside the penalty area by reserve defender Tosin Adarabioyo gave a sense of how short on inspiration Chelsea were for much of this match, though the 27-year-old deserved credit for showing initiative to break the deadlock late in the first half as the crowd grew nervous.
The natural order soon took over. Christopher Nkunku scored to make it 2-0 having earlier missed a penalty, and there were two goals also for Joao Felix in a rare start, but Morecambe departed knowing they had made Chelsea sweat. -Nampa/AFP