10 years on, and Terry still inspires Chelsea

Chelsea have come to rely heavily on captain John Terry since he made his professional debut 10 years ago, so few should have been surprised he would celebrate his anniversary with a performance that sums up his strength of character when the team needed it most.

It is not the first time since Terry first appeared in a blue shirt, as a substitute against Aston Villa in October 1998, that the club have gone into a game with the eyes of the nation upon them having suffered a psychological blow.

But the loss of their unbeaten home record to high-flying Liverpool on Sunday had provided many outside south west London with particular cause for celebration and optimism.

A win at Hull may have been considered small consolation for such a setback a few weeks ago but considering Phil Brown's side went into the match on the back of four straight wins as well as a 100 per cent record against the other London clubs, it made a statement that Chelsea's title challenge is as strong as ever.

No one looked more ashen-faced after coming second best to Liverpool on Sunday than Terry but no one appeared more satisfied after Chelsea returned to winning ways to keep up the pressure on the League leaders.

He said: "It was a great way to celebrate the anniversary. It's been 10 years since my debut but first and foremost I am delighted to bounce back from the disappointment from the weekend.

"I was disappointed after the game but we went into training on the Monday and it was up to me, Frank Lampard, the backbone of the side, to get the lads going again.

"What was good to see is the lads didn't come in moping about, everyone came in upbeat and eager to play against Hull. We showed against Hull how resilient we can be and this is why we are a top team. All the best sides have the ability to bounce back after drawing or losing a game.

"We can grind out results and we need to maintain that because Liverpool are playing especially well above us and Manchester United are looking good also."

It took until the second half for Terry (right) and his team-mates to get the defeat to Rafa Benitez's men completely out of their system, despite taking an early lead through Frank Lampard's goal-of-the-season contender.

His left-footed chip from the edge of the area had even manager Luiz Felipe Scolari admitting it was one of the best goals he had seen.

Lampard said: "It was one of my best. I just decided at the last minute to chip it because it was on my weaker left foot and I didn't feel like smashing it.

"As soon as I caught it I knew I'd struck it very well."

Terry is in no doubt that Lampard is currently the best midfielder in the country.

He added: "Frank does it season after season. He is different class. In training he is unbelievable and he works so hard on his shooting and his running off the ball.

"We will do a warm-down today and he we will be doing laps around the field on his own. He is an inspiration to everyone in the team to really push on and give it everything in our short careers."

Hull rallied impressively soon after Lampard's effort, with former Rangers striker Daniel Cousin hitting the right-hand post with a low shot after leaving Terry in his wake.

Geovanni then hit a free-kick from 40 yards which Chelsea keeper Petr Cech could only parry to one side.

But any sign of edginess in Chelsea's play in the opening 45 minutes was erased in a second-half showing that exposed the true gulf in quality between the two sides. Hull didn't help themselves by making a mess of Jose Bosingwa's hopeful long punt and allowing Nicolas Anelka to steal in front of Kamil Zayatte, Michael Turner and keeper Boaz Myhill to put the ball into an unguarded net.

Yet the attacking threat Hull had carried in the first half was snuffed out by a now dominant Terry and his defensive partner Ricardo Carvalho, who showed his attacking virtues once again with a sublime assist for Florent Malouda to seal the win in the 75th minute.

Chelsea now play Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on Saturday with many pundits questioning whether they have lost their air of invincibility at the stadium.

It is just another challenge Terry wants to rise to. He added: "People are going to start talking about whether we can get back to winning ways at home quickly again. We have a difficult game ahead of us, Sunderland are in good form and their strike force are doing well.

"But we have two days to prepare to really bounce back mentally at home and try and get another run going."

It is just the kind of attitude that will keep Scolari a happy man as he looks to close the three-point gap on Liverpool.

He said: "After we lost against Liverpool our reaction was very good. We had many chances to win this game.

"We need to follow Liverpool. We are behind them but maybe we make pressure for them and Manchester United and the other clubs."

Chelsea's win came at a cost, however, as Carvalho and Joe Cole are doubts for the game against Sunderland after limping off injured last night.