Last season when the youth team travelled to Chelsea's new training ground at Cobham it was impossible not to be impressed with the facilities. The training facilities, pitches, changing areas and dining areas were of the very highest standard.

One thing I noticed was a very nice-looking match pitch complete with floodlights and thought how great an opportunity it would be for our young lads to play on a pitch like that under lights.

As the fixtures were released this season I contacted Chelsea about the possibility of playing an evening fixture at their venue as opposed to our usual Saturday morning kick-off time and I was delighted when they agreed to our request.

Last Friday we travelled to Chelsea and for the second consecutive week, conceded a late goal.

The game started evenly with chances for both sides before Jed Steer made a good save to keep the scores level. It did not stay this way for long however, as a Chelsea forward broke free and slid the ball into the goal giving Jed little chance.

The game continued in an even fashion until the half-time interval and we were still very much in the game.

We started the second period in a very positive fashion, Remy Gordon passed inside to Ryan Oakley who shot just wide and shortly after Matt Ball had a goal ruled out for offside.

With 15 minutes remaining I made a few changes and pushed Danny Kelly forward as we looked to add pressure to the Chelsea defence and with a little under 10 minutes remaining scored the goal our play deserved.

Johnbull Osemwegie attacked from wide and delivered a great cross to the Chelsea far post and Sam Kelly was on hand to head the ball home.

We continued to press forward and look to take all three points, however it was our hosts who secured the win when in the last minute a cross into our area deflected off George Francomb and into the goal.

It was not a result we deserved, the performance was a very good one and we could well have won the game. This was not to be the case and once again we were left disappointed by a late goal on our travels.

We must look to bounce back from this in our next fixture away at Portsmouth today.

Ricky Martin
Academy Manager