helsea 6-0 Wolves: Capital One Cup walkover is no trial for John Terry

Racism-row Blues skipper is a virtual spectator as two goals in the first seven minutes turn third-round tie with Championship side into a procession

Smiles better: Terry shows his delight at being able to focus on football

 

It's a fair bet John Terry’s FA hearing is not proving as easy for him as this was.
The Chelsea captain made up for the time he has missed training with a sedate workout against Stale Solbakken’s sheep in Wolves clothing.
He was also back among friends after the widespread indifference to which he called time on his England career.
After another six hours at Wembley in front of that four-man disciplinary commision – and with Arsenal away on Sunday – it was a surprise to some that Terry was named in the Chelsea side for this third-round tie.
But then with the eyes of the football world on him Terry has never been one to hide.
He has proven that on several occasions before and it’s a near certainty that he would have been determined to play here.
The Blues’ faithful welcomed his warmly back into the bosom of the Chelsea family and chants of ‘One England captain’ rang around the stadium.
He went on to enjoy a few dances with Wolves as the Blues racked up their biggest win since beating Ipswich 7-0 in the FA Cup in January 2011.

And it started so well... Wolves matched Chelsea - until the game began

Julian Finney

 Terry is expecting a far more difficult end to the week with his camp - and his club - fearing a big ban at the hands of the Football Association.
Blues assistant boss Eddie Newton insisted afterwards that there was never any doubt about Terry playing.
He said: “We wanted John to start. Obviously, with everything happening with the FA, we had to see how it panned out.
“We had a phone call he was making his way back from the FA nice and early so it wasn’t last minute dot com.
“We’d covered all the bases, all the scenarios, and the best one happened.”
Solbakken defended his decision to make 10 changes from his weekend side for this one.
He said: “I think the fans will understand. That is why I put the squad on our club website the day before. The fans understand the demands of the squad.”
The match itself was over as a contest as early as the fourth minute when Gary Cahill headed home at the far post.
Ronald Zubar’s foul on Victor Moses allowed Juan Mata to float in a free-kick that the England defender despatched with the minimum of fuss.
It was a taste of things to come as Chelsea strolled through what masqueraded as the Wolves ­backline at will.
Three minutes later, Oriol Romeu sent in a low daisy cutter that Wanderers keeper Dorus de Vries did well to parry.
Lucas Piazon, however, was fastest to the rebound.
The Brazilian, making his debut, cut the ball back to Ryan Bertrand and the youngster let fly with an effort to give De Vries no chance.

Six of the worst: Wolves keeper Dorus de Vries had quite the evening

Clive Rose

 Already this was painful for the Wolves fans that had made the journey south.
You had to wonder why Solbakken had ripped up the side that had won away at ­Peterborough in the league at the weekend.
He will argue that this was the fifth of six games in 16 days for his men.
Yet what about the fans who had paid to see their team at the Bridge?
Will they be happy about seeing their club so utterly embarrassed?
And make no mistake they were, with the match over as a contest before some spectators had even taken their seats.
Goal No.3 came when Mata - a class apart from anyone on the opposing side - played a one-two with Fernando Torres and sent the ball beyond De Vries on 16 minutes.

It's Juanderful: Mata was a class apart and scored Chelsea's third

Clive Rose

 By that point you really did wonder how many Chelsea would score by half time let alone the end of the match.
Torres, however, still lacks confidence. At anything like his best he would have controlled an 18th-minute ball into the box and put it beyond De Vreis before the Wolves keeper had time to blink.
Last night’s Torres allowed defender Danny Batth to make a challenge and worry him out of it.
Amazingly, Wolves then had a couple of chances to get back into it. First, David Davis forced Ross Turnbull to push a long-range effort over the bar.
Then midfielder Slawomir Peszko rounded keeper Turnbull, but then hit the side netting with the goal at his mercy.
Those chances had come, however, because Chelsea had the cigars out. Roberto Di Matteo’s men responded through Mata, who sent a 33rd-minute free-kick narrowly wide.
Piazon narrowly failed to reach a Torres ball across the six-yard box three minutes later, and only the Brazilian will know how he failed to score from Mata’s ball into the box two minutes before half time.
Worse was to come for Wolves in the second half with Chelsea taking just eight minutes to go 4-0, Romeu smashing home from the spot after Victor Moses was fouled by De Vries.

Four blimey: Oriel Romeu's penalty compounded Wolves' misery

Julian Finney

 Again, incredibly, Pesko missed again from ten yards out three minutes later when Razak Boukari reached the byline and cut the ball back.
Torres piled on the misery when he headed home on 58 minutes from Moses’ corner.
The former Wigan forward joined the party on 71 minutes when he nodded in a cross from substitute Oscar to put the Blues on course for their biggest win since they beat Ipswich 7-0 in the FA Cup last January.

Thank you and good night: Terry acknowledges the Chelsea fans

 But this was the European Champions’ chance to show their backing for the man who continues to be at the eye of the storm.