Chelsea 1 Sunderland 0: Villas-Boas backs Lampard to surpass Tambling’s milestone

Lampard was in the right place at the right time for the ball to bounce off him into the net after Fernando Torres’s superb scissors kick careered off the crossbar.

It was the midfielder’s 12th goal of the season, his third in as many games since his latest recall to the side and the 181st since he joined Chelsea 10 and a half years ago.

He is now just 12 and 21 goals, respectively, shy of fellow Blues legends Kerry Dixon and Bobby Tambling in the all-time list.

Manager Villas-Boas said: “(Lampard) will continue to threaten all remaining Chelsea records. He is almost within a 10-goal distance now from another Chelsea legend and it’s good for him.”

Suggesting Lampard’s goal owed more to instinct than luck, he added: “Frank is always a player who has this amazing timing of arrival in the box.

“It’s not coincidence that he’s one of the best goalscoring midfielders in the world and his timing is magnificent.”

Torres had two penalty appeals turned down and was harshly booked for the second of them, but Sunderland also had a decent shout of their own.

Frustrated Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill was adamant his side’s penalty claim, for a foul on Nicklas Bendtner, was legitimate and cost them a draw.

“I had a quick flash before I came out at ours and ours is obviously a definite penalty,” he said. “I’ve been told, certainly, that the first one (on Torres) at our end is not a penalty.”

O’Neill was even more upset about the opportunities his side squandered, with James McClean missing an open goal and Craig Gardner and Bendtner also snatching at presentable chances.

“We missed at least five really good opportunities and I think that’s too many,” he said.

“I know scoring a goal is pretty difficult but it’s not that difficult.

“A blundering full-back could’ve stuck a couple of those in – from about four leagues below.”

Insisting he would not panic buy in the January transfer window as a result, he added: “I don’t think your immediate reaction would be to race out to get somebody who could score 20 goals. He’d only cost about £35m anyway.”

Sunderland lost former Leeds United and Sheffield United defender Matthew Kilgallon to an ankle injury at half-time after he landed awkwardly making an aerial challenge.