Chelsea soaked up a barrage from Swedish hosts Helsingborg to scrape through to the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup.

For what Helsingborg lacked in skill and European experience, they made up for in effort, and defender Zoran Jovanovski was only denied by the post on the half-hour mark.

Chelsea made the second round thanks to Frank Leboeuf's free-kick at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago.

But in a match which increasingly became a stalemate on a freezing Scandinavian night, the Blues were a shadow of the team that won the Cup Winners' Cup for the first time since 1971 350 miles away in Stockholm against Stuttgart in May.

They creaked in defence, patently failed to create in midfield and chased lost causes up front.

The Swedes, who knocked Aston Villa out of the UEFA Cup a couple of years ago on the away goals rule, had packed their defence in search of a draw at Stamford Bridge. But they were a different prospect at home, piling forward as they chased the goal which would have taken the game to extra-time.

Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli had indicated his determination to keep a clean sheet as he brought in Michael Duberry at the back and pushed Marcel Desailly into a holding role in midfield. In contrast, Helsingborg, fifth in their domestic league, bolstered their attack by replacing midfielder Stig Johansen with striker Mattias Jonsson.

Chelsea were painfully lacking an incisive final ball to find their strikeforce of Vialli and Tore Andre Flo. They showed more determination in the second half but the celebrations at the end were inspired by relief rather than joy.

Helsingborg: Anderson, Nilsson, Jacobs son, Jovanovski, Wibran, Powell, Johnsson (Wahl stedt 72), Edman (Andersson 82), Strovik, Lantz, Stavrum (Johansen 61). Booked: Jovanov ski.

Chelsea: De Goey, Babayaro, Leboeuf, Des ail ly, Poyet, Vialli (Casiraghi 90), Duberry, Le Saux, Di Matteo, Ferrer, Flo.

Referee: V Hrinak (Slovakia).