LINCOLN was supposed to be the simple stop on Chelsea’s troublesome tour.
Over the past week the Blues have endured rough trips to Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
And here, the ‘world champions’ delivered easily the worst 45 minutes under Enzo Maresca and were bullied by a League One team.
A rapid-fire response after the break with Tyrique George and Facundo Buonanotte, scoring his first Chelsea goal, bagging in the space of two minutes meant Rob Street’s shock first half strike eventually counted for nothing.
Chelsea’s blunders had started long before the first half.
The Blues left Marc Guiu, the striker recalled from his loan at Sunderland in the final moments of the window and just 26 days after moving north, in London thinking he was cup tied.
During a rather embarrassing call with the EFL hours before kick off, Chelsea were told the rules had changed for this season and Guiu could have played.
That error did give George the chance to shine and he delivered a fine goal to spark the rescue mission.
Instead of throwing in a hoard of academy players, Enzo Maresca named a strong XI for their trip to Sincil Bank – a team worth over £360million, with a bench worth nearly £250m to back them up.
Lincoln’s record signing, on the other hand, comes in at £350,000.
But early on you could have been fooled for thinking it was the other way around.
Chelsea were ragged at the back as the Imps bombarded them with crosses and long throws.
The Blues had little idea what to do with them and were fortunate to survive a few scrapes at the back.
Inside two minutes, Lewis Montsma, the Lincoln defender, rattled the inside of the far post with a fierce strike.
It unsettled the visitors, who looked incredibly lightweight on the ball and nervous under the pressure from the hosts.
Filip Jorgensen, in goal as one of eight changes, has been told by Maresca he will get his chance in the Premier League and Champions League this season. But not on the evidence of this first half.
The Dane collected some crosses, but made a hash of others – letting the ball drop in his own six yard box after a botched attempt to punch clear.
Chelsea were lucky to escape that episode without conceding, as Wesley Fofana desperately hooked away.
Alejandro Garnacho was handed his first start since moving from Manchester United but had no joy across a first half during which he was merely kicked and booed, switching flanks to try and have some sort of impact.
The second half was not much better for the Argentine, who was hooked just before the hour mark.
It was not just the new boy struggling, though.
Chelsea had mustered just one shot as the first half dragged on, when Jamie Gittens managed to fire over from just yards out.
Having just about survived the Lincoln bombardment, and with the break and a bollocking from Maresca closing in, the Blues blasted themselves in the foot in spectacular fashion.
Enzo Fernandez, one of two £100m midfielders in the Chelsea match squad, received a short free-kick on the edge of the box and sparked chaos.
The World Cup winner attempted to square the ball across his own box to Trevoh Chalobah.
His pass was lethargic and pounced upon by Ivan Varfolomeev, who nipped ahead of Chalobah, to tee up Street’s composed low finish.
Chelsea dredged in needing to solve a problem all of their own making.
Maresca must have provided some rocket, as the Blues were ahead within five minutes of the restart after being sent out unchanged but early.
You could have expected one of the expensive summer signings, in Gittens and Garnacho, to step up and sort things out – but instead it was two freebies.
Academy graduate George, who had been ever so close to leaving this summer, rattled in the leveller on 48 minutes.
After Gittens had seen his ball inside poorly scooped away by Montsma, George wasted no time firing a first time half-volley in off the far post from the edge of the box.
The winger was involved in the second, too.
Gittens fired a ball into the feet of loanee Buonanotte, who wriggled forwards through red and white shirts, exchanged a scruffy one-two with George, before squeezing past another few defenders and stabbing in under goalkeeper Zach Jeacock.
Chelsea’s 1,800 travelling fans in the Stacey West Stand breathed a sigh of relief – though Lincoln were still making their side uncomfortable.
More long throws and looped crosses rained down on the Blues box as home fans continued to push, before Freddie Draper – a Chelsea fan – hit the side netting.
Chelsea were just about able to hang on and play out at their own pace, knowing they had been rather lucky in Lincolnshire.
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