Our Under-18s came away with a hard-earned point from Saturday morning’s trip to Chelsea.
Armend Muslika and Tyley Tingey fired us ahead twice but the hosts hit back each time through a Chizaram Ezenwata penalty and Jashayde Greenwood’s 74th-minute equaliser, with both teams guilty of squandering further chances throughout the 2-2 draw.
Miracle Adewole notably went close twice for us in the second period – one of his attempts agonisingly hitting the post – with earlier opportunities for Jamel Beggs and Samal Bangura also falling by the wayside, while the Blues struck the woodwork four times overall – albeit two of those were against the outside of the post – and forced Dylan Thompson into a string of excellent saves.
Nevertheless, we produced a committed team display right until the full-time whistle to ensure we took something away from what was, as usual, a gripping, high-intensity London derby at Cobham.
Ezenwata’s early clip over Thompson was cleared off the line by retreating defender Malachi Hardy – playing his first Under-18s game of the season having primarily been with the Under-21s thus far – while his centre-half partner Elijah Upson produced a handful of authoritative blocks over the course of the game as we restricted Chelsea’s attempts to find a way through.
Midfielder Beggs was denied by goalkeeper Freddy Bernal after going through one-on-one in a big chance for us on 17 minutes while Kobe Barbour’s curler was tipped over the bar at the other end by Thompson, who stayed alert in a chaotic period in the wake of a Chelsea corner.
We took the lead on 34 minutes when Adewole was brought down at the edge of the box and Muslika curled a beauty of a free-kick into the top corner – his sixth goal in seven Under-18 Premier League games. Bangura later miscued a header from Muslika’s cross when unmarked in the Chelsea box before Thompson pulled off two superb saves, one either side of half-time, to preserve our advantage, first keeping out Ezenwata’s low volley down to his left following a free-kick before turning Mathis Eboue’s fierce shot against the post in the opening exchanges of the second period.
Just before Eboue’s chance, Adewole went through in the inside left channel for us but saw his effort come back off the far post and into the grateful grasp of Bernal, but on 52 minutes the Blues managed to breach our resistance when Upson was penalised for handball in the air while trying to defend Lewi Richards’ corner and Ezenwata sent Thompson the wrong way from the spot.
We regained the lead just two minutes later, though, Tingey ramming home his first Under-18 goal after Muslika’s curler was parried onto one of his own players by Bernal.
Muslika’s low shot towards the near post was later smothered by Bernal, with Adewole firing across goal but wide from a similar position to his earlier attempt in the inside left channel. However, Chelsea, having had a quiet spell, cranked up the pressure with 20 minutes to go and after substitute Ibrahim Rabbaj volleyed against the outside of the post and Sol Gordon’s shot was well blocked, they levelled once more on 74 minutes, Isaac Da Silva’s stooping header from Reggie Watson’s cross coming back off the upright, with Greenwood subsequently rifling high into the net.
Onassis Waite struck the outside of the post while Tingey – playing in an unfamiliar right-back role – was forced to clear Ezenwata’s effort with the goal gaping after a mix-up at the back for us as we entered the final 10 minutes. You sensed Chelsea were pushing for a late winner, but we stuck to our task brilliantly in the closing stages, Thompson with another excellent flying save to deny Rabbaj in their best opportunity in the 91st minute, while getting forward ourselves wherever possible to enable us to see out the game.
‘Both teams had some big chances’
Interim Under-18s Coach Joe Staunton couldn’t hide a sense of frustration at the final whistle following some of our missed opportunities, although he admitted the draw was probably a fair result: “It's always a tricky game coming to Cobham – the match was full of energy and enthusiasm with both teams really going at it, but in the end both teams probably deserved their point,” he reflected.
“Both teams had some big chances that they failed to capitalise on and towards the latter stages of the game I thought Chelsea probably had the better of those, but we did well to hold out and see out the draw in the end. The game was on a knife-edge at times but the missed chances has led to it only being two apiece.”