Bee-ware Chelsea, Brentford boast the striker who breached your meanest-ever defence

 
p72 edition 15/02 LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Paul Hayes
Giuseppe Muro15 February 2013

If any of Brentford’s players need inspiration ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup replay at Chelsea, they should borrow a DVD from team-mate Paul Hayes.

The film in question takes pride of place in Hayes’s collection because it is of the time that he silenced Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup.

Hayes, then of Scunthorpe, gave the visitors a shock 1-0 lead against Jose Mourinho’s Blues in a third‑round tie in 2005 and recalls his goal with understandable ease.

“We went ahead after about eight minutes,” says the Brentford striker, who was 21 at the time.

“Matt Sparrow turned inside to cross low with his left foot, I managed to turn inside Alexei Smertin and stick it through Carlo Cudicini’s legs. Everyone talks about playing against big clubs but you can tell by my celebration I didn’t know what to do or where to run. At the time you are running on adrenaline, you don’t expect to score so as a young kid you go a little bit mad and just run towards the fans.

“It was a fantastic feeling in front of 6,000 Scunthorpe fans. I was only a youngster and I still cherish the moment to this day.”

In a season when Chelsea broke the Premier League record for the fewest number of goals conceded — 15 during 2004-05 — the strike was something of a collector’s item.

Hayes became the first player to breach Chelsea’s defence in 511 minutes of football and joined a list of only 11 players to score at Stamford Bridge that campaign. The others included Barcelona’s Ronaldinho and Bayern Munich pair Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

“I have still got a DVD of the game,” says Hayes. “My little boy is a Chelsea fan, so it is nice for him to look back on his dad scoring against the team he supports. [Didier] Drogba and Joe Cole were playing so they had a few big guns out.

“After the game, Mourinho invited us into the dressing room — I got Joe Cole’s shirt and now it is on my son’s bedroom wall. All the Chelsea boys were fantastic.”

Scunthorpe were only the fourth away team to score at Stamford Bridge that season. The Premier League side equalised against the run of play through Mateja Kezman before Andy Crosby deflected Drogba’s cross into his own net after the break.

Eidur Gudjohnsen sealed victory late on for Chelsea, who had spent nearly £100million the previous summer and went on to successfully retain their title with a record 95 points.

Hayes says: “We managed to hold on for 20 minutes. We thought we might cause an upset but it wasn’t to be as they equalised before half-time and went on to win 3-1.”

Eight years have passed since then and Hayes, now 29, was an unused substitute as Brentford earned a fourth-round replay with Chelsea last month. Uwe Rosler’s side were on the brink of an upset at Griffin Park but Fernando Torres’s late equaliser does at least offer Hayes the chance to add to his video collection.

Hayes, who is the younger brother of former Arsenal midfielder Martin, started Tuesday’s 2-0 win against Stevenage in League One and is hopeful of keeping his place.

He says: “It is a totally different team now. It is a massive game for us and we are going there to cause an upset. The goal for Scunthorpe was one of the biggest highlights of my career and hopefully I can do it again on Sunday.”

The replay could be worth £750,000 to Brentford, with the winners facing a fifth-round trip to Championship side Middlesbrough at the end of the month.

Hayes adds: “We might be playing against a top Premier League team but the pressure is off us. No one expects us to win.”

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