Lionheart Lampard hits the ton against proud Huddersfield

Tell the 6,000 fans who travelled from Yorkshire to London that the potential of the Cup to weave dreams and spells is an anachronism in a modern world.

With the last kick of the first half, Michael Collins had illustrated control, poise and an assassin's eye to shoot Huddersfield on terms.

Those fans, embedded in The Shed end, became in an instant a loud, boisterous choir. Their team may be living in the wrong end of League One — indeed they began yesterday as the lowest-ranked team in the competition — but that had not deterred them from making the journey in a fleet of coaches, by train or by car. It was a day to travel in hope, if not expectation.

And for 15 minutes, those fans were rewarded with Huddersfield holding Chelsea, the club with a substitutes' bench yesterday that cost more than £90million to recruit.

Collins' goal, taken in his stride as he expertly brought James Berrett's pass out of the air, was a moment of some sobriety for Chelsea. Manager Avram Grant — winner of just one domestic cup with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel 14 years ago — had selected a shadow team with an eye on the week ahead.

Perhaps he was beyond criticism. After all, Chelsea play Olympiacos in the Champions League in Athens on Tuesday, then defend the Carling Cup against Tottenham in the all- London Wembley showpiece on Sunday.

Having spent weeks dealing with injuries to men like Terry and Lampard, and having to compensate for the absence of other critical players at the African Cup of Nations, such as Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel and Salomon Kalou, Grant is now spoiled by an abundance of riches.

His reaction was to include reserve keeper Carlo Cudicini, Steve Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim, Scott Sinclair and Claudio Pizarro.

In truth, Grant might have shuffled his resources any number of ways and still found a com-bination with enough skill, experience and firepower to have condemned Huddersfield to an uncomfortable afternoon. Yet, in the end, Grant was grateful for the presence of Lampard and Terry, men assured of a starting place when Grant has to turn his attention to creating the very best blend of Chelsea from the personnel at his disposal.

Lampard had returned to the team just six days ago and Terry, against imposing odds, made his comeback after two months out with a broken foot. Their contribution was immense and meaningful. The game was 19 minutes old when Sinclair drove the ball across the Huddersfield penalty area. As he has done countless times before, Lampard arrived late to strike a sweet firsttime shot into the bottom corner of the net.

Six years and nine months after Claudio Ranieri paid £11million to take him across London from West Ham, Lampard had claimed his 100th goal for the Blues. In his box for the first time since Christmas, Chelsea's billionaire owner Roman Abramovich broke into a grin in celebration.

Perhaps, like his team, he assumed the job had been done because, frankly, there was not a huge amount of urgency about Chelsea's football.

Terry was required to clear from Chelsea's goal line in the 38th minute after Nathan Clarke whipped in a shot following a Huddersfield corner.

Chelsea could not claim they had not been warned and Collins, outstanding throughout, seized Huddersfield's equaliser with a clarity of thought. His shot beat Cudicini at the near post, allowing Ritchie went to deliver his half-time talk with an amount of optimism.

But Lampard was to offer the Cup holders the moment of inspiration they needed on the hour. He cut through Huddersfield with a determined run and when his shot was blocked by goalkeeper Matthew Glennon, the England midfielder squeezed the rebound in off the inside of a post. Danger had passed.

Lampard's measured pass in the 69th minute invited Kalou to place the tie out of Huddersfield's reach.