The first fruits of the Abramovich revolution at Stamford Bridge were harvested on Sunday as Chelsea pulled off a come-from-behind victory over Liverpool in the Carling Cup final. 1-nil down after 45 seconds thanks to John Arne Riise taking advantage of a rare defensive lapse, the Blues took the offensive and raided the Liverpool goal. However it wasn't until the 79th minute that our efforts paid off, and were rewarded with an own goal scored by 'pool's Steven Gerrard. In extra time we continued to turn up the pressure and surged to a 3-1 lead thanks to goals by Didier Drogba and oft-maligned Mateja Kezman. Antonio Nunez pulled one back for the scousers but after 120 minutes Chelsea had won their first trophy in 5 years, their first since Roman Abramovich poured £300+ million into the club and since José Mourinho took over as manager.

Still smarting from losses to Newcastle in the FA Cup and Barcelona in the Champions League, this win may be the morale booster the squad needed. It definitely speaks of a resilience absent at Chelsea in recent years that we could overcome a two match losing streak and an early 1-nil deficit. Eyes must now turn to maintaining our Premiership lead over in-form Manchester United and to sending the Spaniards home broken-hearted when they come to London for our Champions League second leg next week. Both are very possible goals and both will go a ways towards silencing those wanting to write off the Blues for daring to mingle with the footballing elite.

Unfortunately despite the win, my sore throat persists. God knows how crappy i'd be feeling if we'd lost though.