Didier Drogba puts the bite on Boro

STRIKER Didier Drogba ended Chelsea's goal drought and put the swagger back into coach Jose Mourinho's walk.

The cocky Mourinho confessed to having had his doubts as the minutes ticked away with his star-studded side staring down the barrel at a third 0-0 Premiership draw on the trot.

It was August 28 when Frank Lampard scored his 41st-minute winner against Southampton.

After firing blanks at Villa Park and at home to Spurs, it meant Chelsea had gone an incredible 310 minutes without a Premiership goal when Boro's Franck Queudrue fouled the impressive Paulo Ferreira with nine minutes to go.

Boro pulled every man back into the area to defend it, but that man Lampard, so often Chelsea's talisman, was one step ahead — or, more accurately, one thought ahead.

Instead of sweeping the ball into a packed area he drilled it back to Drogba, who had checked back to the edge of the box.

Sweet

The £24m striker swept it home first time with a sweet side-footer from 15 yards that keeper Mark Schwarzer couldn't keep out.

Justice had been done — and no one was more relieved than the little boss man on the touchline.

Mourinho confessed that he had greeted Drogba's winner with a huge sigh of relief.

"Phew... Jesus, finally," is how he put it. Not the most eloquent of descriptions, but certainly telling.

"We were at risk of losing two points for the third consecutive game," he added. "That would have been a big blow for us."

He had urged his players not to lose their faith and self-belief, promising: "A team playing like us should not be too worried that it doesn't score goals.

"We played fantastic at Aston Villa and again against Tottenham, when we had 20 chances to score to their one. Here, Middlesbrough did not have one single chance."

Absolutely true. But Chelsea had about 20 chances again, and only scored one. Mourinho knows that strike ratio won't win any titles.

On the final whistle he actually walked out to congratulate his men.

He admitted: "My players wanted to win so much. It is not easy when you play well and don't score, play well and don't score, play well and don't score.

"I was pleased for them because we controlled the game. The only surprise was that the goal took so long."

Looking at Chelsea's recent form, the real surprise was that they scored at all!

That's seven goals in seven Premiership games — a real weakness when you are in pursuit of the game's greatest prizes.

But they have conceded just one league goal so far, and Mourinho knows someone is in for a hiding when everything comes together.

Steve McClaren admitted his Boro side never looked like winning but he'd hoped they could hold out for a gritty, backs-to-the-wall 0-0.

He said: "We were disrupted by not having Chris Riggott and Szilard Nemeth. Then we lost Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink for 10 minutes with a cut head that needed 10 stitches.

"We also saw Mark Viduka and Joseph-Desire Job come off with hamstring trouble and Ray Parlour taken off with a gashed kneecap.

Upset

"We weren't good enough to win on the day, but we were nine minutes away from a 0-0.

"We just have to put it down to a bad day at the office and close it up and move on."

Middlesbrough's one chance of an upset came with the game still goalless. Stuart Parnaby's 62nd-minute drive struck John Terry's arm and there was a huge penalty appeal.

TV replays showed there was some justice in the shout — but that the infringement was just outside the box. On another day, Chelsea might not have been so lucky.

That's the risk they run while they continue to squander so many chances.

Chelsea dominated the first half but once again didn't make their superiority pay. Drogba came closest on the half-hour.

He had time to pick his spot, but lashed at the chance and hit the underside of the bar.