Lampard hat-trick finishes off Foxes in seven-goal thriller</p> When Avram Grant promised that there would be more excitement at Stamford Bridge, this cannot have been what he meant. Twice Leicester led, Chelsea's second equaliser coming as late as the 86th minute, and it was deep into stoppage time before the holders confirmed their progress with a goal as chaotic as the game it decided. In the confusion Frank Lampard claimed the final touch, and with it a hat-trick. "I don't know who scored the last goal," said Grant, "and I don't care. Chelsea scored it."</p> Few Chelsea fans, having witnessed their team score six against Manchester City at the weekend, would have been unduly surprised that this game featured seven goals - the great shock was their distribution. Leicester, struggling in the Championship and without a manager since Gary Megson's defection to Bolton last week, could have won here and surely would have had Carl Cort not missed with a close-range header in the 82nd minute.</p> Instead Grant was allowed to purr about his team's fighting spirit, ironically the only quality at which Frank Burrows, Leicester's caretaker manager, believed his charges bettered their hosts. "They had more possession than us, they passed the ball better than us," he said. "Where we matched them, and maybe in my opinion shaded it, was our hearts. I wouldn't change my laddies' hearts for theirs after that."</p> Given the chaos at their club and the quality of their opponents some disorganisation could have been expected from Leicester but it was Chelsea whose defence was more prone to panic. It crumbled at the first opportunity when Matt Fryatt's cross in the sixth minute found Gareth McAuley running in from the edge of the area to power home a header while those around him in blue stood useless.</p> Leicester reacted well to their lead, chasing possession and gamely snapping into tackles. Cruelly, the Foxes' tackling was to prove their undoing. First Darren Kenton's challenge on Lampard only allowed Juliano Belletti to cross, Scott Sinclair heading the ball back for Lampard to sidefoot past Marton Fulop. Then Bruno N'Gotty did excellently to divert Sinclair's cross away from Claudio Pizarro at the near post. Sadly the ball looped to Lampard eight yards out and he volleyed his side into the lead.</p> But Leicester were to be rewarded for their resistance. In the 69th minute two substitutes combined to draw them level, Levi Porter chipping the ball over Chelsea's defence and DJ Campbell capitalising on Carlo Cudicini's hesitance to head in. A further five minutes and they were in the lead, Alan Sheehan's free-kick turned in by Cort at the far post.</p> Then came Cort's miss and Chelsea, reprieved, poured forwards. In the 86th minute Michael Essien passed to Andriy Shevchenko and the Ukrainian spun sweetly before scoring with a left-footed drive from the edge of the area. Then deep into stoppage time the striker struck again, less cleanly this time, his shot looping off Belletti and skimming off Lampard before crossing the line.</p> Suddenly the 40 coachloads and more of Leicester fans, so recently in full voice, fell silent. "It was a big part of my teamtalk, the responsibility of sending those fans home with a bit of pride and I think we did that," said Burrows.</p> There will be some debate about whether this constituted an improvement from the plodding inevitability of Chelsea success under Jose Mourinho but Grant at least was convinced. "I think 1-0 is a good score," he said, "but 4-3 is better."</p> </p>
