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Owen Coyle's team is providing us with a cup-run to remember, with the promise of a quarter final and perhaps more to come. But this was the evening upon which that side served notice that they can be more than a flash in the pan. The controlled, skilful nature of the performance demonstrated that this side is capable of returning to Chelsea next year for a league encounter.
This was not a game of numerous clear cut chances. Ade Akinbiyi's goal apart, Burnley's good use of the ball did not produce a litany of clear opportunities; after the first half hour, it took Chelsea until Burnley began to flag in the final minutes of extra time to carve out a couple of gilt edged chances. Otherwise, the Kings Road millionaires were largely restricted to half chances and snap shots.
This was a game of ebb and flow, of subtle changes in emphasis as Burnley gradually gained a foothold in the game before exerting a second-half stranglehold and digging deep in extra time. And it was a game played against the backdrop of a constant din from an away end packed full of pride and passion from start to finish.
For thirty minutes, there was only a hint of what was to come. Chelsea were powerful, incisive and threatening, Burnley neat in possession but powder-puff in the final third. Jensen made a fine double block - the second, brilliantly, with his body outside the area - but when it came, Drogba's opening strike had an air of inevitability about it.
It was impossible to discern when the momentum began to change. But in the final minutes of the first half, strings of passes began to be converted into promising opportunities and the Clarets began to grow in belief. No longer was the final ball hurried in haste; instead there was the confidence to be patient, to trust their skills and wait until men were in support before picking a pass. And either side of half time came the understanding that when the Clarets kept the ball away from Chelsea feet, the home side's superior power and athleticism could not count for anything.
Spurred on by the repeating, pounding refrains of 'Owen Coyle's Claret and Blue Army', Coyle's side passed and moved and kept surging forwards, creating half-chances before Akinbiyi interrupted the Shed End rhythm by sparking unbridled pandemonium.
Akinbiyi had made a difference, providing a focal point to the constant midfield promptings of McCann and the deep-lying Blake, the constant carrying of Gudjonsson and the width offered by Elliott. And down the left flank Chris Eagles left behind a frustrated first half to offer a steady supply of clever, short angled passes to the forward runners. Now Mahon emerged to seamlessly replace Blake in the play-making role, linking with Akinbiyi and switching play to either flank. And behind that sextet stood a back four who tackled and intercepted with a surgeon's precision.
There were long range openings for Elliott and Mahon, half a chance for Eagles and a flick header from Akinbiyi. For Chelsea, ever more direct in stark contrast to their less illustrious opponents, Di Santos should have broken the hearts of the Shed in the final minute of normal time; as the home side forced Burnley back in extra time only to find no quarter given, Alex should surely have won it from four yards before Jensen took centre stage to ensure they could not do so from twelve. Michael Duff, the most unlikely of penalty takers, stood up to the plate and rifled home Burnley's critical kick.
'E-i-e-i-E-i-O, up the Football League we go', sang the delirious Shed. They believed it, and why not? Get this clear: Burnley went to Stamford Bridge and won because they matched, perhaps out did, Chelsea for the quality of their passing and their technique. Any team which can deny Chelsea the ball at Stamford Bridge can go toe to toe with anyone in the Championship as long as they believe in those skills and their instincts to outwit more physical rivals. And fuelled by that knowledge and the belief instilled by Wednesday night, and roared on by a crowd who must now believe this team is capable of doing more than merely competing in the Championship, they must not take their eye of the ball.
Those players who achieved something special at Chelsea in concert with those remarkable massed supporters and the staff behind them must now go on and ensure they do themselves justice in the league. That sets the bar high. And that, to borrow from John Sadler's famous report on another famous Burnley cup away day, is a sobering yet thrilling thought after the heady intoxication of Stamford Bridge.