West Ham United youngster Junior Stanislas played a full part as Southend United gave Chelsea a scare before going down to a battling 4-1 FA Cup third round replay defeat at Roots Hall on Wednesday.
Stanislas, who has been on loan with the League One side since late November, helped Southend to force the replay by drawing 1-1 at Stamford Bridge on 3 January.
The 19-year-old was back in the limelight again and it did not take long for the teenager to make his mark. The England Under-19 international winger's corner was powered into the net by Shrimpers captain Adam Barrett to give Steve Tilson's side a shock lead after 16 minutes.
Stanislas, who scored two goals in the 3-1 second round win over Luton Town to set up the clash with Luiz Felipe Scolari's side, was a lively presence down the left flank. Faced by Jose Bosingwa, the south Londoner refused to be fazed by the challenge posed by the Portugal international full-back.
Chelsea had the better for long periods of the game, which originally looked set to be postponed due to dense fog 90 minutes before the scheduled 8.10pm kick-off. However, shortly after it was widely believed the game had been called off, the mist lifted and referee Chris Foy gave the tie the go-ahead.
Stanislas had a half-chance to double the hosts' lead on 38 minutes, but could only fire over after Petr Cech had superbly blocked Alex Revell's header. The Premier League side's class finally told a minute before half-time when Germany captain Michael Ballack scored an equaliser following a mix-up between Barrett and goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall.
The winger was back in the thick of things 12 minutes after the break when his cross was headed over by Jean-Francois Christophe, but it was Chelsea who would go on to win the tie. Salomon Kalou put the visitors ahead on the hour-mark before Nicolas Anelka added a third with 13 minutes remaining and Frank Lampard completed the scoring in added-time.
Stanislas is set to return to the Boleyn Ground later this week as his six-week loan period ends on Thursday, and will hope the promise he showed in scoring three times in seven matches for the Essex side will encourage Gianfranco Zola to hand him a chance in the West Ham United first team later this term.