Hughton Delighted With Replay

Chris Hughton was delighted that his side came through the FA Cup tie with Chelsea with a draw especially has things were not going their way in the lead up to the game.

Hughton had injuries abound to contend with before the game was played and then there was an injury to Stephen Carr very early in the game.

The Blues boss told ESPN: 'We had the players out and then we lost Stephen Carr so early in the game, which was a big blow to us. He is a big player for us, our captain, and he has only just come back from injury. That was a big blow but we have had to cope with a lot of things today.

'We also had to cope with a very, very good Chelsea team that caused us problems, but I thought that for large parts of the game we were able to cope with those problems and pose an attacking threat ourselves.'

Birmingham's run in the Europa League has given Hughton`s side a good test with the extra games that they have had to play, and you would have thought an extra tie against Chelsea, but that is not the case with Hughton.

'It's financially good for the club and we are also in the competition,' he said.

'We have played so many games already this season, I think we now only have one spare week through to the end of the season. But everybody wants it. It's a changing room that wants to play games and this is an exciting time, when you play in these competitions against the likes of the Premier League sides. It's exciting times for everyone at the club.'

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