Kalou's 87th-minute winner was shrouded in controversy, however, with Newcastle claiming it should have been ruled out for a blatant offside involving the Ivory Coast forward.
The result left visiting manager Sam Allardyce under continued pressure, with Newcastle having won just two of their past 11 matches.
"It's one of those decisions I wouldn't mind getting into trouble for, to be honest, but that would cost me money and I don't want to part with money when I don't deserve it," Allardyce said.
"As a manager, you can't say what you really think, you have to keep that bottled up inside you. There's no real excuse when the assistant referee sees it again.
"It hurts deeply for everybody at the the club, particularly the players. A result has been taken away from us through no fault of our own, but by an assistant referee who has got a horrible decision wrong.
"Unfortunately, we have to take it on the chin as it can not be changed, but it is a severe blow to our confidence."
Chelsea were forced to make changes as manager Avram Grant dealt with suspensions to defenders Ashley Cole and Ricardo Carvalho, as well as fresh injuries to Andriy Shevchenko and goalkeeper Petr Cech. Hilario was in goal for Chelsea, while John Mikel Obi, Michael Ballack, Wayne Bridge, Tal Ben-Haim, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Juliano Belletti were also brought in to the starting line-up.
Michael Owen meanwhile began on the bench for Newcastle, after six weeks out, while Nicky Butt, Claudio Cacapa and Obafemi Martins all started.
Hilario made the first save of the afternoon, after just five minutes, when Martins found himself through on goal after defender Alex misjudged a high ball into the area.
Germany international Ballack, Chelsea's captain in the absence of injured England duo John Terry and Frank Lampard, then wasted a good opportunity in the 10nth minute, firing high over the crossbar, but Newcastle goalkeeper Shay Given was kept busy as Chelsea attempted to make the breakthrough.
The Republic of Ireland international stopped Kalou in the 19th minute, and made a fantastic dive to tip a deflected Mikel effort over the bar two minutes later.
But there was little he could do about the first goal, as he was lying helpless on the floor after Shaun Wright-Phillips's shot deflected off Kalou into the path of Essien, who tapped into an unguarded net.
Chelsea could have doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, but Wright-Phillips headed wide at the far post from a Joe Cole cross.
Given made another great stop within 60 seconds of the second-half restart, after Butt's attempt to clear a Wright-Phillips cross almost resulted in an own-goal, and his heroics gained their reward when Newcastle levelled, albeit against the run of play, in the 55th minute.
Mikel was weak in a tackle with Charles N'Zogbia, and the Newcastle full-back drilled a ball across the area, which Butt bundled over the line under pressure from Wayne Bridge.
The strike gave Newcastle renewed confidence but they could not find the second goal, despite bringing Owen on for the final 16 minutes.
Instead, Chelsea found the crucial goal with time running out.
Mikel's shot hit Claudio Pizarro in the area, and the ball found its way to the seemingly offside Kalou, who poked home beyond Given.
0 comments:
Post a Comment