KELVIN Davis thought it would be Saints’ day when Oscar was denied a penalty – and booked for diving.

Saints were still level yesterday when Oscar fell despite being in an excellent position to round Davis following Eden Hazard’s cute pass early in the second half.

Referee Martin Atkinson had no hesitation in booking the Brazilian, who had only been on the pitch for a few minutes following Jose Mourinho’s ultimately match-changing double substitution.

Davis said: “It’s probably a habit of his when he has opportunity to win a penalty. He probably looked too hard for it and the decision went against him.

“He didn’t need to do it. If he’d have gone round he’d probably have popped it in the net.

“I would never try and bring anybody down, I’ve seen players go round goalkeepers and stick it past the post many times.

“My philosophy has been to never bring anyone down and try and play the game honestly, so I was disappointed with it – but the referee saw it and made the right decision.

“It was good refereeing because I’ve seen them given and I could have been sent off on the back of it.

“After that I wondered if we might get something.”

It was not to be. Within five minutes, Oscar’s deflected cross came back off the far post and was headed in by Fernando Torres.

Willian, the other player introduced in the 53rd minute, when Juan Mata and Andre Schurrle were replaced, secured the points ten minutes later.

“The substitutions certainly helped them,” continued Davis. “The game changed in that period, they’re such a strong powerful side and they had a bit too much for us.

“When it went 3-0 you hope you don’t get a drubbing but we still showed some heart and spirit.”

Davis produced some excellent saves in his second Premier League appearance of the season, following his recall at Everton three days earlier.

He twice denied Ramires during an absorbing first half.

“It’s my job to make saves when called upon, I’m just disappointed to lose,” said the club captain.

“We weren’t over excited at half-time, but were in the game and had chances ourselves. We were unlucky not to score but it’s very difficult against teams like Chelsea.

“They’re very strong defensively, they get everyone behind the ball and they had three unbelievable blocks in the game that you might usually see in one season.

“We didn’t have much luck, with a deflected cross that couldn’t have gone any straighter to Torres for the first goal and the third was deflected as well.

“But we don’t rely on luck, we’ve worked very hard to get ourselves into this position and have had a tough Christmas against some great teams.

“And at this time of year the next game is not far away.

“It will soon be time for us to stand up and start again.”