FA CUP/Chelsea 2 Stoke 0:THE FA Cup was the least of it. Chelsea were also battling hard for the Premier League and Champions League as they willed their way back to the sort of stability that is essential on every front. Their focus was intense and the manager, Carlo Ancelotti, was so keen to avoid breaking his players' concentration he did not make a substitution in this quarter-final.

Chelsea needed to come up with a reaction to consecutive defeats. The victors had been Jose Mourinho’s moneyed Internazionale and moneyed Manchester City, but it would not be entirely correct to treat Stoke City as patsies by comparison. Tony Pulis’s side had been unbeaten away since S Stephen’s Day and their sturdiness made this a demanding occasion.

Frank Lampard opened the scoring before the interval, but victory was not clinched until the 67th minute. Thomas Sorensen put a Nicolas Anelka header behind. The corner saw Alex threaten and it led to another. Lampard delivered and John Terry’s header was not to be denied. Chelsea craved that margin of error as their goalkeeping is worrisome while Henrique Hilario deputises for Petr Cech.

Stoke would have been encouraged initially. Pulis’s team disturb opponents precisely because of their predictability. Opponents expect a direct approach that includes long throw-ins from Rory Delap but do not have a method to thwart it consistently.

In the first quarter of an hour, there were two occasions when Chelsea were in distress as the ball was hurled into the centre. The first saw Ricardo Fuller mishitting a shot that Mamady Sidibe might have converted had it not been for a block by Alex.

Ancelotti’s side had more profound cause to be uneasy about Hilario. With 14 minutes gone, there was panic at another Delap delivery and the Portuguese goalkeeper’s weak punch set up Dean Whitehead for a shot Mikel John Obi cleared off the line.

In the 4-2 loss to Manchester City the previous weekend, Hilario had displayed the hapless positioning of an outfield player ordered between the posts, yet he was retained in preference to the remaining option, Ross Turnbull.

At the other end, Anelka was elusive and his intelligence was particularly significant since any trial of strength with Stoke’s husky back four was likely to prove futile.

Chelsea took the lead following a corner, but height was not relevant. Ten minutes from the interval, a half-cleared corner was laid back by Terry for Lampard to hit a low shot past Sorensen. The midfielder has been somewhat subdued of late. Where his England outings are concerned there is an excuse in that the deeper role he fills means he has to operate in a dutiful manner more than a buccaneering one.

All the same, Fabio Capello made specific reference on Wednesday evening to his decision to try to aid the clubs by taking off men who were tired because of their labours in the league. Lampard did not reappear for the second half of the friendly with Egypt. A highly disappointing Jermain Defoe had been the other person to be withdrawn so early.

The best footballers on Chelsea’s books seem in many cases to be, like Lampard, in their 30s. John Terry will not leave his 20s behind until the end of 2010, but he surely must feel he has been ageing fast after all that has happened or all he has brought upon himself.

Opposition fans will go on barracking him for a while yet. Should Chelsea go on imposing themselves, there may be little other pleasure to be had by supporters of clubs such as Stoke who start to feel their team is in an unequal struggle. Ancelotti’s side, all the same, will still believe they have concerns of their own.

The left-back issue, for example, might have been exasperating. Ashley Cole has a broken ankle and Yuri Zhirkov had not got over a routine injury to play here. Ancelotti therefore put the right-back Paulo Ferreira on the left. A man who did not make the Champions League squad gave good service.

At this phase of the campaign, problem-solving is a key attribute. Chelsea found the means to deal well with Stoke who had, at their own ground, knocked Arsenal and Manchester City out of the FA Cup. If Chelsea have regained durability they will be daunting in the remainder of this campaign.