Ray Wilkins praised the players for their performance, but admitted frustration at another goal conceded at a set piece.

We eventually saw off Southend with a dominant second half display that yielded three goals, but not before home captain Adam Barrett had given Southend the lead at the quarter-hour stage.

'It's disappointing, but it is always disappointing when any side concedes at a set piece because you work extremely hard to keep them out,' explained the assistant first team coach. 'But, with this group of guys what you always expect is that they will work extremely hard to rectify that in the next game they play.

'We will try everything to get it right, zonal, man to man, sticking a coach in front of it, we will try the lot until we get the right solution.'

Despite being a goal behind for much of the first half until Michael Ballack's equaliser just before the break, Wilkins stressed that he had not been too concerned, given the way we were using the ball.

The German, in addition to Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Nicolas Anelka had been close to restoring parity.

'I thought the brand of football we played was first class and we moved the ball very quickly. We created a number of chances and had it not been for the Southend boys defending so valiantly we would have got ourselves back in the game a little earlier.

'Our spirit has been fantastic and you can see from the pace with which they played and how they celebrated the goals that they have a great spirit amongst them. They are a super bunch of guys to work with and the atmosphere around the place was one where we wanted to put Sunday right and we did that this evening.'

With one win in six approaching tonight's game, the club has come in for criticism in recent weeks, particularly after Sunday's defeat at Manchester United, but Wilkins believes the side answered its detractors tonight.

'The important thing is the way the players feel about the situation and they demonstrated that this evening. They were well beaten and they accept that fact but they were determined to put that right. In the way we played today we proved the spirit and character we have in the club, and it was a great result for us.

'Because of the slightly adverse media reporting on the club at the moment, which is slightly disappointing from our point of view, you do tend to get that [spirit] from within. They demonstrated that tonight, nobody likes being criticised, and they put that right.

'You have to come and win these games. Southend battled for the duration and were always going to make it extremely difficult for us. We all play badly and they will play badly again, but it certainly won't be for the work ethic.'

The one piece of bad news to take back to Stamford Bridge was the injury sustained by Joe Cole in the last 20 minutes.

'We don't know what that is to be honest,' Wilkins admitted. 'He twisted badly as he went into the air and whether that has been generated from his lower back into his knee I don't know but we will assess the situation when we get back in the morning and see how we go.

'I sincerely hope it is nothing too grave and we can get Joe up and running shortly.'

We now meet Ipswich Town at home in the fourth round a week on Saturday, but before then it is Stoke at home in the Barclays Premier League.

You can see the full 90 minutes on Chelsea TV and Chelsea Plus from midnight.