VALIANT Huddersfield Town were denied an FA Cup replay when Eidur Gudjohnsen scored a late winner at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

Carlton Cole put Chelsea ahead with a header after his initial shot had looped upwards after being blocked.

but Gary Taylor-Fletcher, who saw a great chance saved in just the second minute, equalised with a well-taken right-foot shot 15 minutes from time. However, Gudjohnsen struck after ghosting in to the penalty area and connecting with Arjen Robben's precise pull-back.

Huddersfield manager Peter Jackson had asked his players to give a good account of themselves and he can be proud of their effort and ambition, trying to get the ball down and play football whenever possible but for large periods Huddersfield were unable to cope with Chelsea's movement.

The likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Hernan Crespo might have been rested but the team was still packed with internationals.

Damien Duff, Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips were at times on another plane, slicing open the away side with their pace and trickery.

It was no surprise when the home side opened the scoring in the 12th minute Huddersfield were actually a little unfortunate over - Carlton Cole heading past Phil Senior after his initial shot had been blocked by Martin McIntosh and looped straight up in the air. Cole spent much of the previous two seasons on loan at Charlton and Aston Villa - and the header was his first goal for Chelsea since April 2003. But if the away fans feared an avalanche of goals it failed to materialise, with Huddersfield keeping Chelsea out for a further 70 minutes.

Chelsea might have added to their lead before the break from a number of chances including a Huth header that struck the crossbar, but Huddersfield started to mount some kind of threat after the break, as Nathan Clarke and McIntosh both shot wide from distance. And with 15 minutes left Taylor-Fletcher struck, running on to a superb pass from substitute Michael Collins before shooting past Cudicini, who got a hand on the ball but could not prevent the equaliser.

Huddersfield remained on level terms for seven minutes before substitute Robben marauded down the left before picking out an unmarked Gudjohnsen to score.