Gary Cahill has expressed his delight in completing his debut for Chelsea but has admitted that it was marred by the side's "sickening" draw with Manchester United.

The former Bolton Wanderers defender eventually made his first start for the Blues since joining the former Premier League champions last month, in the absence of injured captain John Terry.

While Andre Villas-Boas's side looked likely to snatch maximum points from the Red Devils after claiming a three-goal lead in the early stages of the second half, Chelsea eventually stumbled to a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge.

"It was a fantastic game to be involved in and it was in at the deep end but these are the games you want to be involved in, however any game you go 3-0 up you expect to win so that has put a dampener on my debut," Cahill told the club's official website.

"It is a sickening feeling like we have lost the game. The mood is a bit flat and we are disappointed.

"The second half we started fantastically well and went 3-0 up and really should have seen the game off from there, but the second penalty was disappointing."

Chelsea sit 14 points adrift of league leaders Manchester City.