Taylor: Cruel luck

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Swansea 1-1 Chelsea

Neil Taylor’s injury time own goal rescued a point for ten-man Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Swansea in the Premier League on Tuesday.

The Swans looked set for the three points as they led thanks to Scott Sinclair’s first half strike with just two minutes of stoppage time remaining at the Liberty Stadium.

However, Taylor inadvertently diverted a shot past his own keeper Michel Vorm to give the Blues a share of the spoils which had looked unlikely when Ashley Cole was sent off for two bookings with four minutes left on the clock.

The point leaves Chelsea fourth in the table on 42 points while Swansea are 13th on 27 points - nine points clear of the relegation zone.

Following a cagey opening, Danny Graham went close on seven minutes but he bundled his effort wide from a Gylfi Sigurdsson free kick into the Blues area.

At the other end Daniel Sturridge fired just wide after Fernando Torres failed to connect with a David Luiz ball into the area.

Swansea should have gone ahead on 16 minutes but, when Petr Cech was left stranded, both Graham and Sigurdsson were denied by Luiz and Branislav Ivanovic who blocked their goal bound efforts on the line.

Chelsea then enjoyed their best passage of play, before Nathan Dyer forced Cech into a save with a stinging effort in a counter-attack for the hosts.

Swansea eventually took the lead on 39 minutes when Chelsea failed to clear a Sigurdsson ball into the area and Sinclair turned sharply to volley high into Cech’s net against his former club.

Chelsea improved greatly in the second half but they struggled to break down a resolute Swans’ defence.

Sturridge went close on 77 minutes when he toe-poked an effort just wide from inside a packed penalty area.

However, their task was made even harder on 86 minutes when Cole collected a second booking and subsequent red card for bringing down the lively Dyer.

But, with Swansea looking set to comfortably see out the four minutes of stoppage time, Jose Bosingwa’s hopeful effort took a wicked deflection off Taylor and left Vorm wrong-footed to earn Chelsea an unlikely point.