U18联赛第二轮
https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/08/under-18-report.html
Under-18 report: Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa
Sat 15 Aug 2015
Chelsea Under-18s made it six points from two games at the start of the
season with a hard-fought victory at Cobham this morning (Saturday).
Joe Edwards's side broke the deadlock 11 minutes into the second half
through Charlie Wakefield and then worked hard to keep the visitors at bay
throughout the remainder of a competitive contest.
== Team news ==
Edwards made one change from the side that won at Norwich a week
previously, with Wakefield replacing Harvey St Clair on the left-wing.
After netting a hat-trick in Norfolk, Ike Ugbo continued to lead the line
up front, with Isaac Christie-Davies, Jacob Maddox and Wakefield providing
the attacking support.
Nathan Baxter lined up in goal protected by a back four of captain Josh
Grant, Dujon Sterling, Ali Suljic and Trevoh Chalobah, while Ruben Sammut
lined up alongside Mukhtar Ali in central midfield.
== First half ==
This fixture produced one of the youth team's standout performances last
season when they came from two goals down to triumph 12-2 in October. Yet
it wasn't quite the same blistering start on this occasion, with both
sides sizing each other up early on and clear sights at goal limited.
It took 20 minutes for either side to register an attempt at goal as
Wakefield brought a routine save from Charlie Bannister, though the Blues
did begin to carve out clearer opportunities as the half wore on. Ali
fired a free-kick directly into the unmoving wall before the midfielder's
shot from distance was spilled by the goalkeeper and diverted away from
the lurking Ugbo.
Sterling saw a header comfortably gathered by Bannister before Chalobah
blocked well as Callum O'Hare's shot looked to trouble Baxter. Ali
continued to see many of the home side's best chances and volleyed over
from a promising position following Sterling's delivery as the Blues
advanced on a swift counter-attack.
Baxter was forced into a comfortable save from Corey Taylor down low to
his left late in the half but neither side was able to break the deadlock
before the interval.
== Second half ==
Edwards made a switch at the break, replacing Suljic with Cole Dasilva,
and it didn't take long for the hosts to take the lead. The opener came
following progress down the left flank, with Wakefield cutting inside and
rifling his finish beyond Bannister into the bottom corner.
The goal gave the Blues confidence, although Villa remained a threat and
Baxter had to be brave to smother the ball at the feet of O'Hare as the
tricky midfielder bore down on goal.
Christie-Davies curled a free-kick narrowly wide before Ali came inches
away from putting the game to bed as his bending left-footed effort came
back off the crossbar with goalkeeper Bannister beaten.
The visitors kept themselves in the contest and ought to have snatched a
stoppage-time equaliser but substitute Liam Hailey planted his header
narrowly over the bar. Despite a barrage a long balls into the box late
on, Edwards's side defended strongly to claim another three points.
== Manager reaction ==
Joe Edwards reflected afterwards on a challenging morning and admitted
that a moment of individual quality had spurred his side on to victory.
Speaking to the official Chelsea website and referring to last season's
20-5 aggregare score between the two sides, he said: 'I thought Villa set
up very much with last season's games in mind and with a priority of not
letting that happen again.
'They got behind the ball, blocked the middle of the pitch and tried to be
difficult to beat, which they were. When teams set up like that and are
doing it well, you have to rely on your quality levels being high and I
felt that was lacking from us in the first half.
'We spoke at half-time about needing to improve a lot and I felt we got a
reaction from the boys in the second half. We needed a moment of quality
and Charlie Wakefield gave us that with a good individual goal which
changed the game.
'We were a bit disappointed with our game management at the end because we
were giving away needless free-kicks and handing Villa opportunities to
put the ball in the box but thankfully we dealt with that quite well.
We've talked about wanting to keep more clean sheets this season so it was
pleasing to see the way we dug in at the end and held on for the win.'
A number of academy friendlies have been arranged for the coming weeks. On
Tuesday 18 August, our youth team host Exeter City at Cobham before Adi
Viveash's Under-21s entertain Brentford on Friday 21 August. Finally, the
Under-18s welcome QPR on Tuesday 8 September.
Chelsea
Nathan Baxter
Dujon Sterling Josh Grant (c) Ali Suljic Trevoh Chalobah
(Cole Dasilva h/t) (Dan Kemp 85)
Ruben Sammut Mukhtar Ali
Jacob Maddox Isaac Christie-Davies Charlie Wakefield
(Harvet St Clair 58)
Ike Ugbo
Unused subs - Jamie Cumming, Malakai Hinckson-Mars
Scorer - Wakefield 56
Booked - Ali
Aston Villa
Charlie Bannister, Joseph Linley, Joonas Sundman, Jake Humphries,
Mitchell Clark (Kelsey Mooney 75), Easah Suliman (c), Corey Taylor,
Jack Clarke (Alex Prosser 77), Moustafa Zeidan, Callum O'Hare,
Jordan Cox (Liam Hailey 50)
Unused subs - Emmanuel Idem, Louis Hall
Booked - Linley
Pictures courtesy of Mark Sandom.