Mark Schwarzer spoke exclusively to Chelsea TV following our Capital One Cup exit at Sunderland, with the Chelsea goalkeeper feeling we paid the price for not scoring a second goal when we appeared in control of the tie.
Frank Lampard had given us the lead early in the second half, but Fabio Borini, a former Chelsea player, sent the game into extra-time with a late strike for the hosts.
With the game seemingly heading for a penalty shoot-out, Sunderland won it right at the death when Ki Sung Yeung was afforded too much space inside the penalty area and crashed his strike past Schwarzer.
‘It was very disappointing,’ said the Australian. ‘The game the way started for us was very positive and for the vast majority of the match you felt there was only going to be one winner.
‘You’re aware of their qualities and the danger they pose, but we couldn’t get the second goal. If we’d got the second goal I think the game would have been killed off pretty quickly but unfortunately we didn’t and you leave yourself open to potentially conceding, and we conceded with a minute or two to go.’
On a personal note, Schwarzer enjoyed a decent game, making a crucial save to deny Yeung shortly before the winning goal.
He was left frustrated, however, at not being able to prevent the decisive strike.
‘As a goalkeeper you just try to keep the ball out of the back of the net, I was just gutted I wasn’t able to stop the second goal,’ he explained.
‘It was disappointing he had so much time but sometimes that happens, unfortunately I wasn’t able to save it and that’s cost us our path through.
Sunderland’s late winner was the second time in a matter of weeks we’ve been beaten in the dying minutes of a game, with our 3-2 defeat at Stoke following a similar pattern, and Schwarzer stressed the importance of eradicating errors.
‘We need to rectify it as quickly as possible,’ he said. ‘We talk about it and we’re well aware of it but we’re still conceding late goals which is very disappointing.’