Chelsea 3 Colchester United 1: Colchester's flirtation with history ends after Cole late show bursts Cup balloon

"We're proud of you" sang the 6,000 and they had every right to as Colchester United yesterday pushed Chelsea harder than most Premiership clubs have managed in the 20 months since Jose Mourinho arrived on these shores.

For eight minutes Phil Parkinson's League One side dreamt of etching as deep a mark in FA Cup history as Dick Graham's team had when defeating the then mighty Leeds United 35 years ago; for another 42 they clung on to the lucrative and memorable prospect of hosting the Premier League champions and leaders at Layer Road.

Ultimately their fairy tale was burst, like the several thousand yellow balloons their supporters brought with them. But like the balloons, which had to be dispatched by pitchfork-wielding Chelsea trainees after the match ball was lost amid a drift of them, they did not go easily.

It was an own goal, from Ricardo Carvalho, which put Colchester ahead after 28 minutes but the nature of the goal should not be allowed to obscure the fact that it was deserved. Mark Yeates had already hit the post. A moment's slack marking allowed Paolo Ferreira to level but it was not until Jose Mourinho had supplemented his team with £35m worth of additional attacking talent that Chelsea edged ahead, Joe Cole taking advantage of an error by goalkeeper Aidan Davison. With Colchester bravely seeking an improbable equaliser Cole finally underlined the gulf in class with a superbly taken injury-time third.

"I'm extremely proud of the lads," Parkinson said. "We wouldn't have enjoyed it if we hadn't given a good account of themselves but the lads did well." He added: "I said to the lads, 'Be confident, you deserve this day. Act like you belong here'. I told them to ruffle a few feathers. I wanted Chelsea to come off the pitch and say, 'We've been in a game', and I think they did."

They did indeed. "Colchester played with courage and they gave us a game," Mourinho said. "They finished the game with some players exhausted but they can go home very proud of what they did."

The Chelsea manager, who intimated that his team had been complacent, was unhappy with their first-half display: "When we gave them time and space to think, they played well. They played good football, better than us. When we decided to put speed in the game they couldn't handle it."

Carvalho and Michael Essien were Chelsea's only survivors from last week's 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough. This was not, however, because Mourinho had responded by axing nine players but because he was resting most of his first-choice players ahead of Wednesday's Champions' League tie with Barcelona. Yet while this was not a first-choice Chelsea XI, such is the quality of squad that was largely irrelevant. Robert Huth has played, this season, for Germany; Maniche was one of the best players at Euro 2004 and Shaun Wright-Phillips cost £24m in the summer.

Yet Colchester, whose Cup run had began with a nine-goal romp against AP Leamington, were not overawed. They started nervously and the game could have been over in the opening four minutes. Davison saved well from Wright-Phillips, then Didier Drogba missed an overhead kick from Wright-Phillips' cross.

A neat turn and shot from Chris Iwelumo helped settle the visitors even if it hit the side netting. Then Richard Garcia broke behind Glen Johnson (who gave another poor display) but his cross-shot was turned away for a corner. A 30-yard shot by Garcia which dipped just over underlined Colchester's growing confidence and they almost went ahead after 21 minutes when Yeates ghosted on to Karl Duguid's deep cross and struck the far post from a tight angle.

So it should not have been a surprise when Colchester went ahead. Yet it was, that is the nature of Chelsea's aura. Garcia, spinning Carvalho, laid the ball off to Greg Halford then broke into space behind Johnson, committing himself rashly towards Halford. The return pass was perfect, Garcia's first touch less so, but he nevertheless whipped over a dangerous cross which Carvalho, losing his footing in the mud, turned past Carlo Cudicini.

Had Colchester made it to the break a giant-killing may have occurred, but after Davison twice denied Ferreira the Portuguese full-back was left unmarked by John White to score his first goal in England after Damien Duff's corner bounced off Carvalho's shoulder. "The goal killed us," said Wayne Brown.

Frank Lampard, Cole and, soon after, Hernan Crespo, joined the contest and it became a siege. Drogba, Carvalho and Lampard missed, Davison denied Cole and Crespo. Then Crespo was allowed to run unchecked, Davison spilt his shot and Cole tapped in. In injury time Cole advanced unchallenged and whirled a 25-yard shot past Davison. Chelsea's thoughts now turn to Barcelona, Colchester's to Barnsley.

Goals: Carvalho og (28) 0-1; Ferreira (36) 1-1; J Cole (78) 2-1; J Cole (90) 3-1.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cudicini; Johnson, Huth, Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira; Maniche (Lampard, h/t), Diarra (J Cole, h/t), Essien; Wright-Phillips, Drogba, Duff (Crespo, 62). Substitutes not used: Pidgeley (gk), C Cole.

Colchester United (4-4-2): Davison; Duguid, Baldwin, Brown, White; Halford, Danns, Watson, Yeates (Chilvers, 72); Iwelumo, Garcia (Williams, 80). Substitutes not used: Gerken (gk), Izzet, Elokobi.

Referee: D Gallagher (Banbury).

Booked: Chelsea Ferreira.

Man of the match: Duguid.

Attendance: 41,810.