Gillingham 2-4 Chelsea

	Mario Melchiot of Chelsea and Chris Hope of Gillingham (BenRadford/Allsport)

Three up and cruising after 24 minutes, all Claudio Ranieri's side had to do was hold their nerve, withstand any Gillingham push and canter into a last 16 clash at Arsenal.

After all, with Jesper Gronkjaer making a mockery of the negative comments that had followed him to Stamford Bridge from Ajax with a dis-play that explained just why Ranieri was ready to wait four months for him to be fit, the gap in class was evident.

The quality of Gronkjaer's two goals summed up the difference at that stage. His movement was unanswerable as he found the back of the net with both his right and left foot, the Gillingham back-line not having a clue how to get close to the Dane. His first - on his full debut after that £7.8million move - was of the highest quality.

Receiving the ball from Jody Morris with his back to goal on halfway, Gronkjaer produced an audacious back-heel to set Eidur Gudjohnsen away, before taking his return pass out on the left.

Gronkjaer cut inside, surging into the box, and his right-footer thudded into the bottom corner. For a man accused of being barely fit enough to drink a glass of milk by former coach Co Adrianse, Gronkjaer seemed determined to prove otherwise.

The third came as Gronkjaer peeled off behind Chris Hope to meet Gianfranco Zola's weighted pass on his chest and fire left-footed past Vince Bartram.

That should have been that, especially after Gudjohnsen had accepted a third-minute gift when Bartram and defender Barry Ashby got in a horrendous mess, nodding into an open goal.

But that is not the Chelsea way, especially when they venture out of west London. The 10-month, 18-game wait to record an away victory has bred the anxieties that have surfaced so often this season.

Once First Division Gillingham, refusing to give up, unleashed the direct power of half- time substitute Iffy Onuora, his bulldozing approach had the immediate destabilising impact.

Mario Melchiot's poor pass allowed the substitute to gallop through the middle. John Terry came across to block but only sent the ball into the path of Paul Shaw, who swept home in the 51st minute.

Then in the 67th minute Frank Leboeuf's game finished early as he suffered a dead leg while illegally blocking off Onuora. Goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, diving to his right, could only punch out Nicky Southall's fierce free-kick and the on- rushing Onuora nodded home.

A packed Priestfield began to believe in a near-miracle and it was not until almost the very last kick, when Gud-johnsen smashed home, that Chelsea knew their famine was over.

GILLINGHAM (3-5-2): Bartram; Ashby, Pennock (Patterson, 67min), Hope; Southall, Saunders, Smith, Lewis (Onuora, 46), Edge; Shaw (Thomson 87), King. Booked: Ashby, Patterson

CHELSEA (3-5-2): Cudicini; Melchiot, Leboeuf (Le Saux 65), Terry, Ferrer, Morris (Stanic 73), Wise, Harley, Gronkjaer, Gud-johnsen, Zola (Poyet 46). Booked: Morris.

Referee: Dermot Gallagher

Man of the Match: Jesper Gronkjaer