Andre Villas-Boas: Chelsea required extra-time to book their place in the quarter-finals
Andre Villas-Boas dedicated Chelsea's hard-fought 2-1 victory over Everton in the Carling Cup on Wednesday to club captain John Terry.
Terry was left out of the Blues' squad for the trip to Goodison Park and played no part as the capital giants secured a safe passage into the quarter-finals.
Chelsea claim their skipper was left in London as he has been booked four times this season and is only one yellow card away from a ban.
Terry is, however, also waiting on the results of an FA investigation into allegations that he racially abused Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand during a Premier League fixture on Sunday.
The England international has plenty on his plate right now and Villas-Boas was quick to single his skipper out after seeing his side prolong their Carling Cup adventure.
He told Sky Sports: "The spirit of the players took us through. I think all of the players would like to dedicate the win to John Terry.
Deserved
"We deserved it for what we put on as an effort and for the football we played.
"To be fair, I think we had the worst of the draws. It was a difficult game to play, Everton would like to challenge for silverware and the commitment they had to this competition made them a strong team."
Chelsea took a first-half lead through Salomon Kalou but saw goalkeeper Ross Turnbull dismissed shortly before the hour mark.
Louis Saha grabbed a late leveller for the Toffees but, after Royston Drenthe's red card for the hosts, Daniel Sturridge struck four minutes from the end of extra-time to see the Blues through.
"When you triumph in a game like this, you cannot toast the individuals you have to toast the collective spirit of a squad that once again goes down to 10 men," added Villas-Boas.
"We wanted to avoid it but it happened and we saw the game through."
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