Brad Friedel and Rovers scored a big home win over Newcastle, Marcus Hahnemann and Reading suffered a late Boro equalizer and Zak Whitbread's Millwall advanced in the FA Cup.

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COLE DOWNS THE HAMMERS
West Ham United's six-game unbeaten run came to a disappointing end on Saturday as Joe Cole's late strike gave Chelsea a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge.

Jonathan Spector was a spectator for most of the match, riding the bench until coming on in the 79th minute.

Unfortunately, that meant he was on the field for Cole's goal, which saw the former Hammer narrowly beat the visitor's offside trap, round goalkeeper Robert Green and coolly finish to hand Chelsea the win.

It was a goal that marked an outstanding second half display from Chelsea, who had gone in at halftime drawn at 0-0, with West Ham defending well and not looking likely to concede a goal.

However, the Hammers could offer little offensive threat of their own and their lack of firepower was punished in the end.

Scoring
CHE - Joe Cole 2 (Salomon Kalou) 76'

Line-ups
CHE - Carlo Cudicini; Juliano Belletti, Alex, John Terry, Ashley Cole, Steve Sidwell (Shaun Wright-Phillips 65'), Frank Lampard, Jon Obi Mikel, Salomon Kalou, Didier Drogba, Joe Cole (Claude Makelele 88')

WHU - Robert Green; Lucas Neill, Nigel Gabbidon, Matthew Upson, George McCartney; Nolberto Solano (Freddie Ljungberg 73'), Scott Parker (Jonathan Spector 78'), Hayden Mullins, Matthew Etherington (Dean Ashton 78'), Carlton Cole, Luis Boa Morte

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BORO LEVEL LATE AT MADEJSKI
Reading suffered an unusual dip in their home form on Saturday, drawing 1-1 with strugglers Middlesbrough at the Madejski Stadium.

Bobby Convey started and played 77 minutes for the Royals, while goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann played the full 90 in goal.

Reading found themselves ahead in the second half after a mind-numbingly dull opening period, this time through some clever work from Dave Kitson.

The lanky striker did well to beat the offside trap before lobbing inexperienced Boro keeper Ross Turnbull, who was in no man's land at the edge of the box.

Boro looked disheartened after the goal, but it seemingly didn't affect them as they went in search of an equalizer.

They very nearly had one not long after the opening goal, as Reading defender Ibrahima Sonko allowed Jermaine Aliadière in behind the defense, prompting an angry reaction from Hahnemann, with defender and goalkeeper nearly coming to blows in Kieron Dyer-Lee Bowyer fashion.

Things would get worse for the Royals just as they thought they had secured the three points, as Tuncay Sanli scored his first goal for Middlesbrough with a powerful header in the 83rd minute.

Scoring
REA - Dave Kitson 5 (Kevin Doyle) 54'
BORO - Tuncay Sanli 1 (Luke Young) 83'

Line-ups
REA - Marcus Hahnemann; Graeme Murty, Ibrahima Sonko, Ivar Ingimarsson, Nicky Shorey, Stephen Hunt, James Harper, Brynjar Gunnarsson (Shane Long 86'), Bobby Convey (Andre Bikey 77'), Kevin Doyle, Dave Kitson

BORO - Ross Turnbull; Luke Young, Jonathan Woodgate (Robert Huth 69'), David Wheater, Emanuel Pogatetz, Adam Johnson (Lee Cattermole 89'), George Boateng, Fabio Rochemback, Stewart Downing, Jeremie Aliadière, Dong-Gook Lee (Tuncay Sanli 70')

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EVERTON HOLDS POMPEY AWAY
A difficult week for Harry Redknapp and Portsmouth got even more frustrating on Saturday as their battle against fellow top-half side Everton ended in a stalemate.

It was a game that was rife with chances for Portsmouth, but Tim Howard and the Everton defense did well to deny all of them.

Sulley Muntari came close to breaking the deadlock twice with free kicks, while Pedro Mendes and Niko Kranjčar also squandered quality chances.

Everton saved their best for the second half, but Leon Osman missed a golden opportunity to steal three points as he missed the target despite being one-on-one with Pompey keeper David James.

Line-ups
POR - David James; Glen Johnson, Sol Campbell, Sylvain Distin, Noe Pamarot, John Utaka (Kanu 57'), Papa Bouba Diop, Pedro Mendes, Sulley Muntari, Niko Kranjčar, Benjani Mwaruwari

EVE - Tim Howard; Phil Neville, Joseph Yobo, Joleon Lescott, Jorge Nuno Valente, Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman, Lee Carsley, Tim Cahill, Steven Pienaar (Andy Johnson 53'), Ayegbeni Yakubu (Victor Anichebe 67')

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ROVERS DUMP VISITING TOON
Blackburn finally found a positive after a five-game winless skid, while Newcastle United slipped even further down the table with a 3-1 defeat to Rovers at Ewood Park.

The result will sting even more for Newcastle as it comes on the back of an intense week of speculation on the future of manager Sam Allardyce. New signing Joey Barton had come out against the Newcastle boo-boys in the media, prompting an angry reaction from supporters that, on Saturday, looked entirely justified.

It took Newcastle until early in the second half to create any decent scoring chances, though when they did it was easily put away by Obafemi Martins past Brad Friedel, who started and played the full 90 between the sticks for Blackburn.

But from then on, it was all Rovers, as exciting youngster David Bentley showed why he is one of a select few young English talents with a magnificent display that included two long-range goals.

The first was a superbly taken curling free kick that had Newcastle keeper Shay Given completely beaten, while the second was an opportunistic strike from 25 yards out that somehow rolled through the Newcastle defense and into the back of the net.

Though Newcastle would try to get back in the game, their efforts were only rewarded with more failure as Blackburn midfielder Tugay added a third for Blackburn right the death.

Scoring
NEWC - Obafemi Martins 5 (Geremi) 47'
BLA - David Bentley 3 54'
BLA - David Bentley 4 67'
BLA - Tugay 2 (Jason Roberts) 90+3'

Line-ups
BLA - Brad Friedel; Brett Emerton, Andre Ooijer, Christopher Samba, Stephen Warnock, David Bentley, Tugay, Aaron Mokoena (Steven Reed 66'), David Dunn (Morten Gamst Pedersen 58'), Roque Santa Cruz, Benedict McCarthy (Jason Roberts 61')

NEWC - Shay Given; Habib Beye, David Rozehnal, Abdoulaye Faye [Stephen Carr 24' (Mark Viduka 72')], Charles N'Zogbia, Geremi, Nicky Butt, Joey Barton, Obafemi Martins, Alan Smith, James Milner

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WATFORD LEAD SHAVED BY BRISTOL
A list minute winner from Darren Byfield gave Bristol City a 2-1 win at Watford on Saturday to shrink the home side's Championship lead to a single point.

Jay DeMerit notched an assist during his full 90-minute shift as the Hornets dropped their third straight decision.

In the first half, Bristol's Enoch Showunmi rang the post early, with Marlon King responding in kind for the hosts.

Central defense partners DeMerit and Danny Shittu each went close for Watford, who received a couple of key stops from Mart Poom.

The Hornets carried much of the play after halftime, but were caught flat-footed by a Showunmi header with 15 minutes left.

Watford appeared to have done enough for a share when substitute John O'Toole buried a DeMerit flick in the 87th minute, but Darren Byfield grabbed the points in stoppage time only seconds after coming off the visitors bench.

Scoring
BC - Enoch Showunmi 1 (Liam Fontaine) 75'
WAT - John O'Toole 1 (Jay DeMerit) 87'
BC - Darren Byfield 5 (Cole Skuse) 90+2'

Line-ups
WAT - Mart Poom; Jordan Stewart, Danny Shittu, Jay DeMerit, Lloyd Doyley, Gavin Mahon (John O'Toole 85'), Jobi McAnuff, Lee Williamson, Marlon King, Darius Henderson (Nathan Ellington 74'), Tommy Smith

BC - Adriano Basso; Bradley Orr, Liam Fontaine, Jamie McCombe, Louis Carey, David Noble (Lee Trundle 72), Michael McIndoe, Marvin Elliott, Ivan Sproule (Cole Skuse 77), Lee Johnson, Enoch Showunmi (Darren Byfield 90')

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U'S HALT WEDNESDAY RUNS
Strugglers Colchester United bagged a pair of early goals, then held on to halt Sheffield Wednesday's six-game unbeaten run with a 2-1 Hillsborough decision.

Frank Simek went the distance, holding down a place in central defense for the third straight game.

The home fans barely had time to settle in their seats when former England ace Teddy Sheringham gathered a speculative long ball from Johnnie Jackson to lash the opener past Lee Grant.

Bad went to worse in the 26th minute when George Elokobi banged home his own rebound for his first goal of the season.

Marcus Tudgay appeared to cut the lead on the half hour, but the offside flag had gone up.

Shortly thereafter, in-form striker Akpo Sodje did connect from a Glenn Whelan cross to get his side back in the game.

Simek rumbled forward to test Dean Gerken late in the half, with the away keeper up to snuff.

Aside from Sodje's penalty gripe near the hour, the Owls had little to offer after the break, falling to 15th in defeat.

Scoring
COL - Teddy Sheringham 3 (Johnnie Jackson) 1'
COL - George Elokobi 1 26'
WED - Akpo Sodje 5 (Glenn Whelan) 36'

Line-ups
WED - Lee Grant; Richard Hinds, Frank Simek, Mark Beevers, Tommy Spurr, Glenn Whelan, Burton O'Brien (Etienne Esajas 71'), Steve Watson, Jermaine Johnson, Akpo Sodje, Marcus Tudgay (Wade Small 63')

COL - Dean Gerken; Johnnie Jackson, George Elokobi, Matthew Connolly (Pat Baldwin 46'), Adam Virgo, Karl Duguid, Muzzy Izzet, Mark Yeates, Kevin McLeod, Teddy Sheringham (Clive Platt 73'), Kevin Lisbie

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LIONS WIN IN FA CUP
Millwall struck twice inside of six early second half minutes to top Bournemouth 2-1 at the Den and advance to the third round of the FA Cup.

American Zak Whitbread did his duty with 90 minutes in the heart of the backline.

Watford loan item Will Hoskins was the busiest early bee for the Lions, buzzing the away net twice with drives.

The Lions finally broke the seal in the 50th minute when Ahmet Brkovic applied the finish to a Neil Harris cross.

Five minutes later, Brkovic set up Hoskins to double the lead, rendering Shaun Cooper's late strike as mere consolation.

Scoring
MW - Ahmet Brkovic (Neil Harris) 1 50'
MW - Will Hoskins (Ahmet Brkovic) 2 55'
BOU - Shaun Cooper 1 74'

MW - Lenny Pidgeley; Marcus Bignot, Paul Robinson, Zak Whitbread, Zoumana Bakayogo (Gaynor 46'), Danny Senda, Ali Fuseini, Ahmet Brkovic, Bryan Hodge, Neil Harris, Will Hoskins, Ross Gaynor (Adebayo Akinfenwa 79')

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ON THE SIDELINE
Neither Benny Feilhaber nor Eddie Lewis dressed for Derby's 1-0 loss to Sunderland.

Injured defender Cory Gibbs was not in uniform for a 3-1 home loss to Burnley.