1ST LEAD: Chelsea book place in FA Cup semi-finals

Chelsea book place in FA Cup semi-finals London - Chelsea became the first side to book their place in the semi-finals of the English FA Cup on Saturday as they won 2-0 at Coventry City.

Didier Drogba put the Premier League side ahead on 15 minutes and Alex made sure of the victory with the second 18 minutes from the end.

Cup favourites Manchester United are away to Fulham later on Saturday in another quarter-final tie.

Coventry had beaten Blackburn Rovers in the previous round but when Drogba fired past two players on the line to put Chelsea ahead, they always faced an uphill battle.

Defender Alex then put the tie to bed with the second goal, finishing off a fine counter-attacking move after a great cross from Ricardo Quaresma.

Manager Guus Hiddink was delighted with the contribution of Drogba, who has excelled since the Dutchman took over from Luiz Felipe Scolari.

"He is dangerous. He is working very hard and he is good for the team," Hiddink said.

"There are still some little things that he needs to improve on, but he is working on them in sessions outside of training which he likes."

Coventry manager Chris Coleman said he was pleased with the way his side attacked Chelsea, but rued the mistakes that led to the first goal.

"You don't want to give a team like that the chance that we did," he said.

"It was a clinical finish but after that I though we did well always pushing up at them. The ball just didn't bounce our way." (dpa)