Chelsea’s John Terry scores against Tottenham.Chelsea’s John Terry scores against Tottenham.

John Terry earned the 13th major winner’s medal of his 20-year Chelsea career on Sunday with a commanding defensive performance and his first Cup goal, then urged his team-mates to use the win over Tottenham as a springboard to more success.

The 34-year-old central defender lifted the League Cup –his 12th trophy as captain – after scoring just before half-time in a 2-0 Wembley win.

“That could be the start of something very good but we have to kick on and we have the league to focus on,” said Terry, who earned the man-of-the-match award.

Terry’s towering performance neutralised the attacking threat of Tottenham’s prolific striker Harry Kane, who scored twice in Spurs’ 5-3 league triumph over their London rivals on New Year’s Day.

Central defensive partner Gary Cahill hailed Terry’s performance.

“He was fantastic,” Cahill told reporters.

“He gave us the first goal and that was crucial – it always is in a final and against Tottenham John managed to get that, but not just the goal but just his defending in general.”

Terry recalled Chelsea’s League Cup victory 10 years ago, the first trophy for Jose Mourinho in his first spell with the club. The captain was man-of-the match then and Chelsea went on to win their first league title for 50 years.

“It’s the first trophy, it’s massive,” Terry told Sky Sports.

“It meant an awful lot to us (to win the League Cup) in 2004-05 in Jose’s first year here.”

Mourinho returned in 2013 and Chelsea failed to win silverware in his first season back. But they are five points clear at the top of the Premier League, aided by Manchester City dropping points against Liverpool on Sunday.

They are also poised at 1-1 against Paris St Germain going into the home leg of the first knockout round of the Champions League so there is a lot for the players to “kick on” for.

Mourinho chose to play 20-year-old defender Kurt Zouma out of position in a holding midfield role to cover for the suspended Nemanja Matic and the young Frenchman rose to the occasion.

“Kurt played in a position he’s not used to and was fantastic as well,” Mourinho said.

“I’m thrilled. It’s amazing for us and it gives us a positive to move forward.”

Jose Mourinho’s honours list

Jose Mourinho on Sunday won the League Cup for a third time. The following list is the Blues boss’ haul of 21 trophies as a manager...

Porto: Primeira Liga (2003, 2004); Portuguese Cup (2003); UEFA Cup (2003); Champions League (2004); Portuguese Super Cup (2003).

Chelsea: Premier League (2005, 2006); FA Cup (2007); League Cup (2005, 2007, 2015); Community Shield (2005).

Inter: Serie A (2009, 2010); Italian Cup (2010); Champions League (2010); Italian Super Cup (2008).

Real Madrid: Primera Division (2012); Copa del Rey (2011); Spanish Super Cup (2012).

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.