Chelsea fury as Kalou goal is ruled out

A sickening injury to Christopher Samba,who was taken to hospital unconscious after being kicked accidentally in the head by Andriy Shevchenko,put into perspective the furore over Salomon Kalou's disallowed 'goal' in the 58th minute.

But Mourinho was in no mood to count his blessings. In a title race which promises to be the tightest for years, these two dropped points could prove crucial, and whatever happens, the Chelsea manager will remember Peter Kirkup, the assistant referee whose surname hints at his error.

After Mourinho somehow avoided being sent to the stands for his animated protests, which included demanding that fourth official Peter Walton watch the incident again on his monitor, a mental consultation of the rulebook suggested that since Kalou was behind the ball when Juliano Belletti crossed, it did not matter that he was ahead of the last Blackburn defender and the goal should have stood.

When referee Rob Styles gave Chelsea a penalty which should never have been and earned them a point at Liverpool earlier in the season, referees' chief Keith Hackett rang Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez to apologise and demoted Styles from the Premier League. Mourinho, it seems, will accept nothing less himself.

The Chelsea boss, who continued his complaints when referee Howard Webb ended a dramatic match with 98 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock, said: "I told him (Kirkup) that of course I will be waiting for his phone call tomorrow for an apology.

"It was so obvious. You don't need to ask me, my players, the Blackburn players, the crowd or all the people watching at home. You should ask the linesman why he disallowed it. I can't understand it.

"He should have to explain."

It is not often you feel sorry for Chelsea and Mourinho, but his team thoroughly deserved to win and leap to second in the table, behind Arsenal only on goal difference.

As it is they have now dropped five points in their last two games, following their defeat at Aston Villa and now lie fourth.

Mourinho's injury-hit team were unfortunate to find Brad Friedel in his usual sparkling form, but were also guilty of wasting chances to make Kirkup's decision irrelevant.

Mourinho was defiant and it seems Kalou's strike will assume the status of being the flipside to Luis Garcia's 'phantom goal' in the 2005 Champions League semi-final which Chelsea lost to Liverpool.

"I agree that one goal for such a dominant team is not enough," said Mourinho. "But we scored a goal, a good goal, a winning goal, but we finished with just one point."

If Shevchenko, making his first appearance of the season in the Chelsea squad, let alone team, had maintained the form which so impressed Mourinho in the Ukraine's midweek 2-1 defeat by Italy, the arguments would have been forgotten.

But in what was billed as a last chance for the £30 million striker, in the absence of the injured Didier Drogba and jet-lagged Claudio Pizarro, he failed to impress again.

After Michael Essien had forced Friedel into his first brilliant save in the 22nd minute, the Ghana midfielder played Shevchenko in, but his first touch was poor and his second sent the ball far enough ahead to allowed Friedel to smother.

In the closing minutes, after Shevchenko's header was blocked by Friedel, Samba stooped to head the loose ball clear. Shevchenko was also following up and unwittingly struck the defender on the back of the head, which knocked him unconscious. In the stoppage time which resulted, the lively Joe Cole's shot was deflected over.

Blackburn had gone close to snatching the lead themselves shortly after the Kalou incident but Petr Cech's only save of the match, from Robbie Savage, was excellent.

With the exception of Samba's injury, Blackburn manager Mark Hughes was happy.But what about the 'goal'? "It wasn't a goal, it was offside," he said Hughes. "The assistant referee immediately put his flag up and that usually means he's pretty certain it's the right decision."

But that will not stop Mourinho waiting for that call.

CHELSEA (4-4-2): Cech; Belletti, Alex, Terry, A Cole (Ben-Haim 87min); Wright-Phillips (Malouda 57), Sidwell (Mikel 57), Essien, J Cole; Kalou, Shevchenko. Subs: Cudicini, Ferreira. Booked: Belletti, J Cole.

BLACKBURN (4-4-2): Friedel; Emerton, Samba (Ooijer 90), Nelsen, Warnock; Bentley, Savage, Dunn (Mokoena 81), Pedersen; McCarthy (Roberts 68), Santa Cruz. Subs: Brown, Derbyshire. Booked: Warnock, Savage.

Referee: H Webb (South Yorkshire).