It's the late, late show from Rovers

But the Rovers boss will be prepared to live with that if Dunn continues to let his football do the talking the way he did at Stamford Bridge.

Dunn was unhappy with his manager's recent suggestions that his eye had been taken off the ball.

Souness also felt the midfielder should not have been prone to the niggly injuries he has picked up this season. Even ahead of the game he urged Dunn to step up his fitness levels.

But the 23-year-old answered his critics the best way any footballer knows how - not just with a quality performance, but a winning goal to boot.

It would be a brave person who dared to write Dunn off completely, and John Terry was prepared to do no such thing.

In Saturday's matchday programme the Chelsea defender spoke of their friendship forged in the England Under 21 set-up and his admiration for Dunn as a footballer.

"As well as being a mate, what a player Dunny is," Terry wrote.

"He has got so much ability, vision, good passing and running."

What the defender forgot to mention was that Dunn has never been one to shirk a challenge and he was given a harsh reminder of the full extent of Dunn's abilities in the first half.

Revelling in his comeback, although asked to start on the right flank, which he doesn't favour, Dunn was confidently taking on Mario Stanic, briefly Graeme Le Saux before injury forced him off, then William Gallas, indeed anyone who chose to get in his way.

On one occasion, that task fell to Terry, who needed a few minutes rest to recover from the incident which left him with a swollen knee, while Stanic and Gallas were later cautioned as they succumbed to their torment caused by Dunn.

Terry had also failed to mention the tenacious midfielder's keen eye for goal, but goalkeeper Claudio Cudicini soon got a demonstration of that as Dunn let fly with a low shot which Cudicini saved, diving to his left, inside the first five minutes.

As the match progressed, Dunn - without a first team start since January 7 - understandably began to tire.

Nevertheless he continued to be a menace after switching to the left following Keith Gillespie's introduction just after the hour, going on to record an assist and a goal as he went all out to prove he hasn't lost his magic touch.

It was from his well-placed, inswinging corner that substitute Dwight Yorke raced forward to meet the ball with a powerful header and hand Rovers the lead they had threatened to take - capitalising on a host of missed Chelsea chances, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink being the main culprit for those.

That was with just four minutes to go. But Dunn was far from finished.

The build-up had all been about Le Saux and, in particular, Gianfranco Zola as both were both were presented with momentoes to mark their 300th appearances for Chelsea.

How second half substitute Zola would have loved to cap such an occasion with a goal, but his eagerness got the better of him as a last-ditch effort was always rising above Brad Friedel's goal.

The American stopper's kick found Egil Ostenstad in space on the left, Dunn cut inside to receive Ostenstad's pass, which the Norwegian slipped between Mario Melchiot and Gallas, dragged the ball on to his right foot and cracked a shot which Cudicini got a hand to but couldn't keep out.

Dunn had dusted himself down in fine style to render Hasselbaink's late rocket pointless.

Captain Garry Flitcroft said: "It's great to have Dunny back in the side.

"He is a player who has got lots of ability and can have a big influence on matches, which he has proved and he's won the game for us in the end."

But while Dunn did strike what was ultimately the winner, the defence had been setting a platform for a result throughout the 90 minutes.

Flitcroft added: "Chelsea got lost of shots in, particularly in the second half, but we defended really well. You have to when you come to places like this.

"But at one point in the second half we were confident we might get something because we just couldn't see them scoring."

Friedel was largely responsible for that. It wouldn't be an exaggertation to say he ended up clearing the ball with virtually every part of his body. Hands, feet, legs, elbows - you name it, he used it to keep the ball out of his net.

But the defence as a whole were throwing themselves in front of everything Chelsea fired at them.

In the first half alone, Friedel dived at Frank Lampard's feet to force him away from goal after linking with Hasselbaink. Lampard turned and found Eidur Gudjohnsen but his effort was blocked by the repositioned stopper and Henning Berg cleared from a wayward second attempt.

Craig Short then thrust his body in front of another Gudjohnsen shot after Rovers had been caught in possession midway inside the Chelsea half and the home side made a quick break - a move which they could perform quickly and dangerously down either flank.

Rovers offered themselves some respite as Lucas Neill and Dunn linked well on the right. Dunn crossed for Grabbi, who caught the ball well on the volley but his strike was more casual than venomous and posed no real threat to Cudicini.

A chance then opened up for Andy Cole, who poked a shot towards the bottom corner but saw it deflect off Babayaro and curl round the post. Short was unlucky to head wide from Dunn's corner.

A melee broke out at the opposite end as Stanic and Lampard had further shots blocked by the defence. The ball dropped for Hasselbaink who was first denied by Friedel, then a spread-eagled Vratislav Gresko.

Chelsea's attacking bursts increased after the break following the introduction of Zola, but Rovers' resilience didn't waver.

An early Gudjohnsen strike was blocked by Friedel's legs, before he parried from Babayaro's vicious drive, then Lampard. Gillespie blocked both of Gudjohnsen's follow-ups while Hasselbaink summed up his afternoon by screwing over then heading wide of an empty net.

Rovers' faith in the fact they could nick something was rewarded through Yorke then Dunn.

Hasselbaink finally found the net in injury time from a dubious free kick following Dunn's challenge on him 20 yards out. Had Gillespie not got out of the way he might well have had a hole in his midriff such was the ferocity of the Dutchman's strike. But the look on his face after scoring proved it was pointless.

Chelsea's Champions League ambitions had taken a turn for the worse, while Rovers' hopes of a UEFA Cup spot could be a Dunn deal if they keep this up.

CHELSEA 1

Hasselbaink 90

ROVERS 2

Yorke 86, Dunn 90

Att: 40, 850 Stamford Bridge