OLI McBURNIE GRABBED a stoppage-time equaliser as struggling Sheffield United twice came from behind to snatch a point in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea.
Thiago Silva’s opener was cancelled out by Jayden Bogle’s equaliser, but it looked like the Blues would come away with maximum points when Noni Madueke put them 2-1 up, only for McBurnie to level at the death.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder restored McBurnie and Ben Osborn to his starting line-up, while Ivo Grbic kept his place in goal despite an error which resulted in a goal at Liverpool on Thursday night.
Chelsea made three changes to the one that started their 4-3 midweek victory over Manchester United, with Silva, Madueke and Trevoh Chalobah all recalled.
Silva marked his 100th Premier League start with the opening goal in the 11th minute. It was a far from convincing strike as he met Conor Gallagher’s corner on the volley, but the ball crept just inside Grbic’s right-hand post.
The home side had their first chance when McBurnie intercepted Silva’s attempted pass and played the ball back to Ben Brereton Diaz, whose effort from inside the area was blocked by a defender.
Gustavo Hamer then forced a save from Djordje Petrovic, firing in a shot which had the keeper scrambling down low to his left to keep the ball out.
Hamer was the architect of the Blades’ equaliser, playing a superb ball to find Bogle whose shot from a tight angle on the right-hand side of the area went in off Petrovic.
Brereton Diaz threatened shortly after the restart, running at the defence before seeing his shot blocked.
The Chile international then created a great chance, sending over a cross which was headed wide by his strike-partner McBurnie under pressure from Chalobah.
As the hosts continued to enjoy a good spell, Hamer sent a drive narrowly wide of Petrovic’s right-hand post.
Madueke restored Chelsea’s lead in the 66th minute, receiving the ball from Cole Palmer and cutting inside before firing past Grbic.
Palmer then saw a dipping effort turned over the crossbar by Grbic.
Nicolas Jackson threatened to put the visitors further ahead before a last-ditch tackle from Anel Ahmedhodzic inside the area snuffed out the danger.
Petrovic had to be at full stretch to keep out Jack Robinson’s looping header in the closing stages.
But an equaliser came in the third minute of time added on when Hamer’s header was knocked on by Cameron Archer into the path of McBurnie who fired into the net from close range.
Somewhere Phil Kearns is having an absolute meltdown about the unfairness of it all…
Great to see Jaguares win, hope they can follow up next week.
Argentina are 50-1 for the world cup! Insane odds given how well the Jaguares are going. Plus they always underperform in the Rugby Championship cos of the distances they have to travel. Given Ireland are 5-1, this seems pretty long for the Argies.
@Farzad Saadat: Pool C will see a big faller at the 1st. France, England and Argentina will be interesting. You’d think France could be the one to miss out but they’ve been ruthless with their squad selection, brought in O’Gara and you only have to look at 2011 when they had no chance and made the final. England could find themselves in a similar fate to 2015, after a great start under Jones they had an awful run of loses. Argentina always peak at world cup time. Exciting!
@RabidHorizon: Did they bring in O’Gara in the end? I thought that was all just rumours in the end
@Eddie Hekenui: No they didn’t in the end
@Ciaran Twomey: Cheers. Thought I might’ve missed the news he’d taken a role with them.
@Farzad Saadat: Madness considering they have knocked us out of 3 of the last 5 RWCs.
@RabidHorizon: they didn’t bring in O’Gara
@RabidHorizon: France brought in much better coaches than O’Gara, they should get a real boost – Labit and Galthié – they picked the right squad, too. I think England could be the team to miss out..
Brumbies should never have made it to a semi. Awful team but get lucky because of how weak their conference is.
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
Aussie Rugby is in a bad place right now.
Unreal for the sport!! Makes the competition a whole lot more competitive! Will be interesting to see how far Argentina go at the WC.
@Aaron Tynan: Further than us, I fear.
@Bluepoolroad: draw kinder to them I think than Ireland – SA or NZ is a tough 1/4
The second semi just finished. Cracking game. 30-26 crusaders.
That jaguares kit is lovely
@Eoin Murphy: i wonder where one could buy it?
@Tony Stack: https://www.elverys.ie/elverys/en/search?text=jaguares
Great. When Argentina played in the November series against Ireland. Which i went too. It was the Jaguares team.
Jags play flat and pass wonderfully, it’s great to watch. The crowd was brilliant too.
I think the Crusaders will have too much for them at home, but I’d love to see the Jags win it.
Where’s the final taking place?
@Bluepoolroad: crusaders ground
@Bluepoolroad: Crusaders home stadium in Christchurch, super rugby needs to start playing them in neutral venues, even if it’s in the higher ranked clubs home country. Home stadium advantage is a bit much for a final.
@Con Al: The problem is distances. Say Cape Town was this year’s venue, how many Jaguares and Crusaders supporters are going to make it at a weeks notice? Stadium would be near empty. At least in the current system, one set of supporters see the final and home advantage is based on merit earned during the season. Not perfect, but understandable system