WEST HAM 0, CHELSEA 1

PETR CECH gave Chelsea a massive boost ahead of their Champions League clash with mighty Barcelona.

The keeper pulled off a superb penalty save to clinch the points at Upton Park. But, almost more importantly, it proved the Czech ace is finally back to his best.

If the Blues are to avoid a Nou Camp battering by Barca on Tuesday they need Cech at the top of his game.

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In recent weeks the signs have not been very encouraging as the erosion of his form this season started to become glaringly obvious.

Cech was very shaky in the quarter-final clashes against Liverpool, leaked goals in a 4-3 win over Bolton and gifted Arsenal's opener to Theo Walcott in last Saturday's FA Cup semi-final victory.

Of course every Chelsea player will need to be on the money if they are to prevent Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o running amok and settling the issue in the first leg as they did in the previous round against Bayern Munich.

The absence of the suspended Ashley Cole at left-back - from where Messi pulls the strings - will not help.

But the private fear around the club is whether Cech will cope in the Nou Camp cauldron.

Given that his composure, belief and judgement have been so unconvincing of late, he and his team were in desperate need of the keeper getting a major confidence boost.

What better way then a fantastic penalty save?

It came in the 70th minute when West Ham were flung a lifeline they did not deserve.

PENALTY SAVE - Chelsea keeper Petr Cech denies West Ham's Mark Noble

Diego Tristan held the ball up on the edge of the area, stumbled and somehow back-heeled it into the path of left-back Herita Illunga who was hurtling into the box.

There was danger but Kalou - who had struck Chelsea's 55th-minute goal - panicked and clumsily tripped the Congo international when he had the chance to nick the ball off his toes.

Once Illunga got back on his feet it took an awful long time for Mike Dean to allow Mark Noble to step up as the referee made a meal of exactly where on the spot the ball was placed.

Noble had missed his last penalty in a 2-0 win over Hull in January so his nerves would not have been helped by the long wait.

But he didn't exactly freeze as he side-footed a low shot towards Cech's left corner. Perhaps it wasn't quite firm enough but few keepers could have stretched down so quickly to their left then have the power to push the ball around the post as Cech did.

It was a goalkeeper's equivalent of scoring the winner.

FRIENDLY FEELINGS - bosses Gianfranco Zola of West Ham and Chelsea's Guus Hiddink

Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink admitted: "That was good for him. There is no point in disguising the fact Cech has had some difficult times recently.

"But if you talk about regaining confidence I would say he already did that with some really good saves in our draw against Everton.

"What we have seen with that penalty save, though, is that we have a keeper."

There is a school of thought that, although Cech initially came back impressively after fracturing his skull two seasons ago, he has gradually been affected psychologically.

His continued reliance on a skullcap highlights the fact that he is wary of a repeat of the accident.

But, to be fair, all goalkeepers can have a spell when one mistake leads to another and suddenly they come under fierce scrutiny.

It is how they come through the crisis that counts and maybe Cech has come through it just at the right time. Not that he had too much to do against an utterly impotent West Ham side.

But he did everything with the sort of assurance that ranked him among the world's best a couple of years ago.

He made another very good save in the 22nd minute when Tristan threaded a cute pass behind John Terry to send Kieron Dyer racing clear with just the keeper to beat.

Dyer was starting his first game since August 2007 after a catalogue of injuries. It showed.

He should have sent the ball past Cech but credit to the keeper for standing tall then getting down sharply to smother. Only once did Cech look in trouble when he was blocked by a forest of bodies from a 43rd-minute Noble corner.

Matty Upson headed goalward and Tristan should have rammed the ball home from two yards but his toepoke was cleared off the line by John Obi Mikel.

The pathetic manner of Tristan's finish summed up West Ham.

Their passing was dreadful and they were toothless up front.

At times Tristan and David Di Michele stumbled around more like Laurel and Hardy than a top-class strike duo. Although Hiddink insisted Chelsea had taken the game seriously they rested key players and strolled through much of the match.

Jose Boswinga was able to limber up for replacing Cole at left-back in Barcelona but Luis Boa Morte is hardly the same sort of test as Messi will be.

In a sense though the extreme element of West Ham fans got what they deserved.

Despressingly, they continued their long-standing campaign of abuse against Frank Lampard with some ignorant chants about his family.

Lampard had the better of the hate mob - as he usually does - by setting up the Chelsea winner.

He burst to the byline then lofted a pass over Rob Green and Kalou had time to bring the ball down and jab his shot home.

Then as Lampard walked down the tunnel at the end he tossed his Chelsea shirt to a couple of West Ham fans behind the dugout.

Guess what? The two fans played tug 'o war over who would keep it. Lampard just laughed.

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