
Fernando Torres ensured the path to victory with his goal after Blues’ trailed behind the visitor throughout the later part of the first half before Cahill scored a 30-yarder and the pressure doubled on the part of the new European champions and it brought about Torres’ goal which he tapped in from to give Chelsea 3-2 lead at Stamford Bridge.
Pavel Pogrebnyak had cancelled out Frank Lampard’s penalty opener and Danny Guthrie had seen his tame free-kick spin in after a Petr Cech error.
With the score line at halftime, Di Matteo rearranged his game plan by throwing on attacking players – Oscar and Daniel Sturridge – in the second half, the ‘youth squad’ had a neat move which left Ashley Cole with the simplest of jobs to cross for Torres to do a clean finish.
Reading tried to respond in the final few minutes but paid the price for their ambition, as Branislav Ivanovic swept home deep into injury time following a quick counter-attack after Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici had gone up for a corner at the other end to give Chelsea a comfortable win of 4-2.
EPL games from next weekend were re-arranged due to Chelsea’s participation in the European Super Cup.