BRIAN Kidd's master stroke at Stamford Bridge last night was to make the half-time switch and send on Keith Gillespie.

It put the emphasis back on attack, produced the brilliant point-saving goal from Ashley Ward and, afterwards, the Rovers boss explained why he had not started with the winger.

They thought it was all over at the interval when a dominant Chelsea, who had seen an early penalty saved by John Filan, snatched the lead in the 44th minute.

But Kidd said: "I knew at half time that it wasn't over and I thought we got on top of them in the second half.

"We looked strong against a first-class team, a footballing team.

"That's the way we would love to go but we knew we had to take the sting out of the game.

"Keith hasn't been able to do a lot of training and he is short on fitness. We wanted to take the pace out of the game because they keep the ball so much it's hard when you are chasing.

"And we have one or two players who are not quite fit.

"It's a balancing act at the moment."

Gianluca Vialli had recovered his composure - well over an hour after the end of the game - to talk about the football as well as everything else.

And he said: "We tried really hard, our attitude was great and I thought it was a good match.

"In the first half we played really well and created a lot of chances.

"Probably we should have scored the second goal earlier on.

"But they counter-attacked and, in five seconds, broke down and scored.

"It happens in football and I think you have to accept it. And sometimes you have to say your opponents played good football as well."

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