Southend United produced another gutsy display in the FA Cup to make the club proud, despite exiting the competition at the third round with a 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea.
Adam Barrett allowed Southend to dare to dream when he headed into the net in the 16th minute and in putting bodies on the line, they made it more than a match for their illustrious opponents from the Premier League.
With a packed Roots Hall in full voice throughout the 90 minutes, it was a pulsating cup tie that saw Chelsea eventually book a fourth round tie at home to Ipswich.
Steve Mildenhall was pressed into early action to make a smart save with his feet from Joe Cole's low strike from just inside the box before a superb tackle from Anthony Grant denied Salmon Kalou rushing in on goal.
A short corner then nearly caught Chelsea unawares, with Petr Cech needing to palm the ball behind.
But from the resultant set piece, pandemonium erupted inside Roots Hall when Barrett arrived at the far post to head in Junior Stanislas' corner.
Chelsea peppered the goal looking for a quick response and found three chances in quick succession, with Mildenhall pushing out a Lampard volley, Joe Cole saw the rebound blocked and Michael Ballack then blazed over the top.
For all Chelsea's pressure though it was Southend who nearly scored again with a swift counter attack on the visitors.
Grant pushed forward and despite being fouled in the middle of the park, advantage was played and Osei Sankofa was able to swing the ball over from the right wing for Alex Revell to see his point blank header brilliantly kept out by Cech.
But disaster struck on the stroke of half time with Chelsea drawing level.
Jose Bosingwa delivered a high ball into the box and with Mildenhall and Peter Clarke going for the same ball, it sprang loose for Ballack to arrow into the top corner from 20 yards.
Mildenhall made a fine save from Ashley Cole to keep out his long range effort in the second half, but Jean-Francois Christophe looked to catch Chelsea off guard from another set piece when he headed over the top.
As the hour mark of proceedings reached, Chelsea took the lead for the first time when Kalou jinxed his way beyond the presence of two defenders to slide the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
It was a goal which didn't deter Southend's endeavour, as they limited Chelsea to few strikes on goal and continued to work their way forward down the flanks.
With time ticking down though, Chelsea did add a third goal, as Nicolas Anelka collected a pass from Kalou inside the box and rifled the ball beyond Mildenhall in the 78th minute.
Frank Lampard did place a harsh reflection on the scoreline when he blasted in a fourth goal in injury time, but Southend exited the FA Cup with plenty of memories to undoubtedly look back on.
Southend: Mildenhall, Sankofa, Clarke, Barrett, Herd, Grant (Francis 80), Christophe, Moussa, Stanislas, Barnard (Freedman 73), Revell (Betsy 86).
Chelsea: Cech, A Cole, Lampard, J Cole (Di Santo 76), Mikel (Belletti 46), Ballack, Bosingwa, Kalou, Terry, Alex, Anelka.
