Blues rally after Cech blunder

Cech's failure to punch the ball clear on the half-hour allowed Royals substitute Andre Bikey to give the home side the lead with his first touch.

But Lampard levelled in the 47th minute and three minutes later Drogba curled a 20-yard effort beyond Marcus Hahnemann to keep them hot on the heels of Everton at the top.

Chelsea should have taken the lead in the fifth minute. Paulo Ferreira fed Shaun Wright-Phillips on the right flank and his cross found Drogba unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box but he smashed his right-foot volley against an upright.

Reading were forced to make a change in 29th minute when Michael Duberry was injured but it turned out to be a fortuitous one for Steve Coppell's side. Bikey replaced him and moments later scored with his first touch.

A free-kick was headed back into the six-yard box by Long and although Cech went to punch the ball clear he was hampered by the close attention of Steve Sidwell and Tal Ben Haim as well as Reading striker Kevin Doyle. When Czech completely missed the ball, Bikey ran clear to prod it home from close range.

Reading should have gone two in front when Stephen Hunt's far-post cross was smashed against the post by John Oster. It was a lucky escape for Chelsea whose situation worsened when Ricardo Carvalho limped out of action with a knee injury.

A double substitution paid dividends as Chelsea equalised within two minutes of the restart. Both Claudio Pizarro and Drogba supplied clever back headers to a long clearance and stand-in captain Lampard burst into the area, controlled, and beat Hahnemann.

They took the lead in the 50th minute through Drogba, who played a clever one-two with Salomon Kalou before sending a 20-yard curling effort beyond the outstretched Hahnemann.

Reading's woes continued when Kalifa Cisse was sent off for a foul on Pizarro and Chelsea held on comfortably.