LAMPARD:SPOT ON SUB

Frank Lampard is hoping his
spot kick last night can be the
spark that re-ignites our title
hopes in this season's Barclays
Premier League.
The 33-year-old came off the
bench to score the winning goal
against Manchester City with
eight minutes to go after Joleon
Lescott had handled Daniel
Sturridge's goalbound shot,
reducing the gap to the leaders
from 10 points to seven.
Having watched much of the
action from the sidelines, the
midfielder felt neither side had
been at its best at Stamford
Bridge, but was encouraged by
our ability to grind out an
important victory.
'Credit to us because Man City
are the team of the season so
far and to go 1-0 down and get
a result shows a lot of
character,' Lampard said.
'Sometimes you have to grind
out those results. It was the
first time we did that against
one of the major teams. It's
about spirit and keeping going,
we had a bit of luck because
they had a fair penalty claim in
the first half but we've had the
luck go against us and we need
to use it as a platform now to
go on and win a good stretch of
games if we want to compete
right at the top.
'A lot is made of getting results
against the big teams but we
also have to win our bread and
butter games, and we've left
ourselves in a position where
we have to win pretty much all
of them to get ourselves back in
the race and we can't get too
excited because there is still a
seven-point gap,' he continued.
'If you don't win enough games
and perform at the right times
then people will criticise you,
that's life. Man City are
obviously beatable, nobody is
unbeatable, and Chelsea need to
be fighting to win leagues. We
can't be fighting for fifth and
sixth, that's not good enough
here anymore so we need to be
right up there.
'Their football between the lines
and first touch was very
smooth; they have a feel about
them where you can see they're
going to be a very strong force.
They showed glimpses that
they're a force to be reckoned
with, and they're probably the
benchmark so far, they're a class
team.'
Lampard's late penalty was
scored against his England team-
mate Joe Hart, a task he felt was
harder given that he has
practiced so much against the
City goalkeeper in training, and
he had to do so having only
been on the pitch a matter of
minutes, a situation he admits
leaves him frustrated.
'It's not often you come off the
bench to take a penalty in such a
big moment. I've taken a lot
against Harty in the past in
training and it was pure relief to
be honest,' he said, after a
passionate celebration that
followed his smashed spot-kick.
'We had a laugh about it
because it was double mind
games with each other, but I
just try to step up when I get
the chance, even if I miss a
couple, and I'm just pleased it
went in.
'I want to play, simple as that
and 33 or not I'm as fit as I've
ever been,' he insisted. 'If I
didn't want to play there would
be no point in turning up. I
know I've got a lot to give and I
just want to be on the pitch
letting the football do the
talking.'