Chelsea had to wait for the floodgates to open as League Two Morecambe put up a dogged resistance before going down 5-0 in the FA Cup.
There were periods in the first half when the 87 places separating these sides in the pyramid could easily be forgotten, the team currently 23rd in League Two leaving Champions League chasers Enzo Maresca unsure how they will fight their way through to the fourth round.
That reserve defender Tosin Adarabioyo scored two of the five goals from outside the box hinted at how short of inspiration Chelsea were for much of this game, although the 27-year-old deserves credit for showing initiative to break the deadlock. stalemate at the end of the first half as the crowd grew nervous.
Soon the natural order reigned. Christopher Nkunku scored to make it 2-0 after missing a penalty earlier, and there were two goals for Joao Felix in a rare start, but Morecambe left knowing they had made Chelsea sweat.
Maresci did not provide the first half as expected. From the moment Filip Jorgensen palmed away Ben Tollitt’s shot after five minutes, there was an uneasiness at Chelsea that suggested their four-game winless run would require a bit of an exit.
They were not without early opportunities. After Tosin hit the post from a corner, a senseless handball by defender Yann Songo’o, which wouldn’t have looked out of place on a volleyball court, gave Nkunko the chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot.
Goalkeeper Harry Burgoyne, taking advantage of the absence of VAR and running a foot wide of the goal line, freed his captain with a save that will live on in the memory of the Morecambe fans gathered behind his goal.
Felix made a superb stop to the lively Burgoyne when he slotted low towards the corner from 25 yards, but Chelsea looked out of ideas. When Axel Disasi clumsily kicked the ball out of play after 30 minutes, the first murmurs of frustration could be heard among the home fans.
The tension was finally eased when Callum Jones deflected Tosa’s shot inside the post to send Chelsea into the break with some sense of mission under control.
Afterwards, things had their own way. Nkunku scored on the rebound after Burgoyne saved Renato Veiga’s shot to double the lead five minutes after half-time.
Tosin stunned Stamford Bridge, and himself, it seems, by going in from outside the penalty area for the second time in the game, this time from further outside the area and requiring nothing as a deflection as he slotted past Burgoyne.
Perhaps inevitably, the defender’s every touch thereafter was greeted with shouts of “shoot” from the home fans even at one stage when he was midway inside his own half.
The fourth goal came from a more likely source, Felix doing what fans have seen too little of since his return to west London and slotting the ball low into the corner from 25 yards.
The Portuguese international has been in full spirits so far and showed it by bending the best goal to make it 5-0.
What’s coming up?
