Villas-Boas began the week complaining to referees' chief Mike Riley about the performance of Phil Dowd and his assistants in Sunday's Barclays Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

But the Blues boss was thankful for Chris Foy, Darren Cann and Mike Millarky this evening after they deemed Bryan Ruiz's penalty had not crossed the line in Fulham's 4-3 shootout defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Replays were inconclusive as to whether Ruiz's spot-kick - which bounced down off the crossbar - should have been given after the forward hit the crossbar, and Villas-Boas admitted afterwards he was uncertain if the correct decision had been made.

"Everybody was looking at each other wondering if it was celebration time," he said.

"The linesman was there so maybe, this time, the decision is good."

Fulham boss Martin Jol added: "To be fair, I haven't seen it.

"Somebody was standing in front of me and then I saw him (Ruiz) go towards the goalkeeper and I knew that he'd missed."

The victory was only Chelsea's second in a shootout in nine attempts and was all the more extraordinary considering they played for more than 70 minutes with 10 men and Fulham missed another penalty during normal time.

Both were part of the same incident, with Alex dismissed for bringing down Kerim Frei and Pajtim Kasami smashing the spot-kick against the bar.

Villas-Boas, who flooded his team with youngsters under the orders of billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, said: "It was a superhuman effort during 70 minutes.

"To be with 10 men for 70 minutes and to hold Fulham's goal and still to create the most amount of opportunities and the best opportunities is out of this world.

"I'm very, very happy with the display of everybody, commitment-wise, effort-wise, concentration-wise."

Villas-Boas admitted he was not unaware of Chelsea's previous shootout failures.

"It was made aware to me, even by my players," he said.

"Also, my players told me that apparently Chelsea has been out of the Carling Cup with 10 men all the time.

"So, in one stroke, we break two bad myths."

The Chelsea boss admitted Foy had no choice but to dismiss Alex, saying: "A penalty is a good enough punishment but, a sending-off, Chris had to follow the rules."

The red card was the latest setback to befall Chelsea either side of half-time, with Daniel Sturridge and Petr Cech both forced from the field following hefty challenges.

"Petr went for a scan in the hospital and he's okay," Villas-Boas said.

"He felt a little bit dizzy from the early concussion at half-time."

Revealing Sturridge had a knee problem, he added: "Somebody fell on his leg. The ligaments are okay.

"If he misses one (game), it won't be more than that."

Sturridge and Cech were the only survivors tonight from the starting XI against United as Chelsea made nine changes.

Fulham made only one fewer and Jol said: "A couple of months ago, I wouldn't have thought that my second XI could play a game like this against Chelsea.

"I had the feeling in the back of my mind that we could beat them here for the first time in 32 years.

"They had a few other players in, we had a new team for the first time - new back four, new midfield, up front.

"We were learning all the time during the game. Normally, you learn before the games, weeks or months before.

"I still had the feeling that we could do well with this group of players and we did."

Missing the decisive penalty was harsh on Ruiz, who was outstanding 10 days after his disastrous debut.

Jol dismissed suggestions the striker could suffer a setback as a result.

The Fulham boss, who insisted his side should have had a second spot-kick in normal time when Oriol Romeu appeared to shove over Orlando Sa, said of Ruiz: "He's a confident player.

"The only thing he needs is rhythm, coping with the English style."