Chelsea 3 Ipswich Town 1

Michael Ballack was Chelsea’s FA Cup hero as he scored twice to beat a plucky Ipswich side 3-1 at Stamford Bridge with Frank Lampard adding a stunning third.

Ballack struck either side of a goal from Alex Bruce – son of former FA Cup winner Steve Bruce – to end Ipswich’s hopes of creating a major upset and send Chelsea into the Fifth Round.

But the Championship side were always in the game and it was only a 35-yard special from Lampard that truly ended their dreams.

The Blues started strongly and should have gone ahead after only nine minutes when Ballack was found unmarked from an excellent Anelka cross but fired his shot wide.

By the 16th minute the home side had found a way through with an excellently-worked effort.

This time the outstanding Lampard swept a cross-field pass out to his England team-mate Ashley Cole who, at full pace, pulled it back for Ballack to stretch and turn home first time.

It was a goal Chelsea deserved - but then their old defensive problems returned as they gifted Ipswich a foothold in the match.

Blues manager Luiz-Felipe Scolari has had his players working hard on defending set pieces but it seems they still haven’t found the perfect system.

Because when Owen Garvan whipped in a free-kick after 32 minutes the home team were all at sea as the ball cannoned off Ricardo Carvalho – and straight into the path of Bruce to fire home unchallenged.

Suddenly Ipswich were filled with confidence and a famous FA Cup shock looked possible.

But Chelsea eventually turned to star striker Didier Drogba to try and save the day, bringing him on after 57 minutes, and it reaped instant dividends.

Almost immediately his strike partner Anelka won a free-kick a minute which Ballack curled home superbly for 2-1.

Ipswich had chances to equalise but when Lampard sent an incredible free-kick arrowing high into the net after 85 minutes the game was all over.