Chelsea crashed out of the a Cup at the expense of Manchester City this evening, losing 2-0 at the Eithad stadium.
Goals from Stevan Jovetic in the first half and substitute Samir Nasri in the second were more than enough to send the Londoners packing back down the M6 with their tails between their legs.
By all accounts, the Blues' flight up to Manchester on Friday was buffeted by the extraordinary winds and they were certainly buffeted out of this game by a stronger, more committed City side, determined to wreak revenge for their league loss at the same Eithad Stadium just 12 days ago.
City had the advantage of not having to play on Wednesday due to the postponement of their match against Sunderland, while a day earlier Chelsea lucked out, drawing 1-1 at the Hawthorns against WBA.
The Londoners tired in that match and took it into this one.
In the great scheme of things, the FA Cup is third on the Blues agenda behind the Premier League and Champions League, but this defeat will still hurt will still hurt Jose Mourinho and so it should.
The early exchanges were predictably cagey with City having the marginal edge.
David Silva sent over a low, drive, from the left right across the Chelsea six-yard box on seven minutes, but no City players were rushing in to take advantage of the hesitancy in the Chelsea rearguard.
The home side's rough-house tactics in midfield yielded several free-kicks for the visitors.
But City should have gone ahead on 15 minutes when Yaya Toure blistering shot was not held by Petr Cech, Stevan Jovetic raced onto it, clipped the ball past Cech but it also clipped his crossbar and out to safety.
But a minute later the Montenegro striker had his reward. A slick move on the left by City saw the ball inched to Jovetic via Silva and Eden Dzeko. He passed the ball wide to Jovetic who daisy-cut the ball across Cech and it went into his net off the foot of his left post.
The Blues first foray on goal, two minutes later almost saw the equaliser.
City's Costal Pantillimon spilled the ball on his own goal line, from a Branislav Ivanovic byline cross. Samuel Eto'o was quick to react but the goalkeeper managed to snaffle the ball into his grasp, much to the relief of the home fans.
Cech was forced into action again on 23 minutes, diving superb to his right to thwart a left-footed curler from Dzeko from just outside the Chelsea penalty area.
With City dominating possession, the Londoners found themselves in a quandary - attack and leave themselves open at the back to a counter-attack.
Vincent Kompany was the first to enter Phil Dowd's book on 38 minutes for fouling Chelsea's liveliest player Eden Hazard.
City should have killed off Chelsea with a minute to go on the half after Luiz bundled over Dzeko. Milner took the ball up and raced to the byline on the right then sent across a blistering low drive. Once again, no City player took advantage to the great chance to strike. Luiz was subsequently given a yellow card he deserved for his wayward assault on Dzeko.
The Blues restarted match with Mohamed Salah on for Eto'o but the game was very much panning out like the first - City on attack with Chelsea defending stoutly.
Jovetic took a comical dive on 56 minutes after being dispossessed by Luiz. The striker rightly received a yellow card.
Jose Mourinho, decided on 60 minutes that he had had enough and decided in a change of tactics, brining on Fernando Torres for Ramires.
Manuel Pellegrini opted to replace Jovetic for Ex-Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri.
Toure trod on Nemanja Matic's toe two minutes later and received a yellow card for his clumsy challenge.
Excellent defending by Gary Cahill prevented City from scoring but a minute later on 67 minutes the game was as good as dead for the Londoners as substitute Nasri worked the ball through to seemingly offside Silva. The Spain midfielder, challenged by Cech, instantly cut the ball back from the byline into the path of Nasri who slid the ball into the the now empty net from six. yards out.
In an attempt to claw themselves back into the game, Oscar was introduced by Mourinho with 20 minutes remaining, Willian the man sacrificed, but to be honest it could have been any of the misfiring midfielders.
Joleon Lescott thought he had not number three on 75 minutes but he was adjudged to be offside.
A speculative long-range effort by left-back Cesar Azpilicueta, embarrassingly zoomed over Pantillimon's crossbar, as the Blues, bereft of ideas resorted to the kind do hopeful tactics many of their opponents tend to do.
A flurry of corners late on by Chelsea gave some hope to the ever-vocal 6,000 Chelxea fans, but each time the ball was either cleared or driven straight into the safe hands of Pantillimon.
Teams: Chelsea, Cech, Ivanovic , Luiz, Ramires, Mikel, Hazard, Matic, Willian, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Eto'o,
subs, Schwarzer, Cole, Lampard, Torres, Oscar, Schurrle, Salah
Man City, Pantillimon, Kompany, Zabaleta, Lescott, Clichy, Milner, Garcia, Silva, Toure, Dzeko, Jovetic,
Sub, Hart,Richards, Demichellis, Kolarov, Navas, Negredo, Nasri
ref, Phil Dowd.