Lampard fires Chelsea into last four

Chelsea's English midfielder Frank Lampard, seen here June 2004. Lampard came off the bench to fire Chelsea into the last four of the League Cup with a cruel late winner against London neighbours Fulham.

Frank Lampard came off the bench to fire Chelsea into the last four of the League Cup with a cruel late winner against London neighbours Fulham.

Fulham appeared to have done enough to force the quarter-final tie into extra-time when American striker Brian McBride cancelled out Damien Duff's 55th minute opener for the Premiership leaders.

But they suffered a killer blow with just two minutes of regulation time left when England midfielder Lampard's shot beat Edwin van der Sar from the edge of the area with a shot that -- just like Duff's earlier strike -- was helped into the net by a deflection off defender Ian Pearce.

Chelsea, still in the hunt for four trophies in Jose Mourinho's first season in charge, were joined in the last four by Championship side Watford, who disposed of managerless Premiership side Portsmouth 3-0 at Vicarage Road.

The nature of Chelsea's winner was particularly hard on Fulham, who had been the better side for much of the match and had seen their local rivals take the lead through a Duff shot that may have been going wide when it deflected off Pearce.

The Cottagers went into the match with a point to prove after being humiliated 4-1 by Chelsea on their home ground only two weeks ago,

Manager Chris Coleman had also been severly critical of the way his side performed in a 2-0 defeat by Blackburn at the weekend and they responded with a spirited first half display which should have yielded at least a one-goal lead.

Mark Pembridge was frustrated by Ricardo Carvalho's last-ditch block, Andy Cole sent a near post header narrowly wide and McBride also wasted a good opportunity to put the home side in front.

Fulham's bad luck continued into the second half, when Cole was desperately unlucky with a header that shaved the outside of Carlo Cudicini's post.

But by that stage, Chelsea were starting to look a radically different side to the one that had been under the cosh for most of the first half and within a minute of Cole's effort slipping wide, Arjen Robben had combined with Duff to put the visitors ahead.

The Dutch winger's trickery gained him some space on the edge of the area and a sideways flick allowed Duff a clear sight of goal.

Mourinho displayed his confidence in his side's ability to defend their lead by pulling off Didier Drogba, who had started a match for the first time in almost two months, and Robben.

It was however a Fulham substitution that transformed the shape of the game. With virtually his first touch after coming on for Cole, Ernest Hammond took a pass from Steed Malbranque, turned and flashed in a low cross from the right for McBride to beat Cudicini at close range.

Suddenly Fulham looked like the more likely winners only for Lampard to crush their hopes.

Watford followed up their defeat of Southampton in the last round by eliminating their south coast rivals Portsmouth with the help of a double from Heidar Helguson.

The giant Icelandic striker gave Watford the lead mid-way through the first half with a looping header over Jamie Ashdown.

Portsmouth's best chance of the first half had fallen to Linvoy Primus, who volleyed wide from close range after Patrik Berger's free-kick had escaped the Watford defence.

The price of that miss became apparent early in the second half as Helguson claimed his second four minutes before Bruce Dyer struck to kill the match as a contest, just after the hour mark.