Under-18s coach Greg Crane says his side will take confidence from their performance against Chelsea despite the Canaries going down to a 3-2 loss in the Under-18 Premier League South.
Norwich City Under-18s sit bottom of the table, having only won once this season, but the team belied their league position to twice take the lead against Chelsea before two late goals from the Blues turned the match on its head.
“I was really pleased with the performance,” said Greg. “We made a few little tactical tweaks in how we set up to work on a few things that we have been doing in the last couple of weeks and we frustrated them (Chelsea) at times.
“We also played, especially first half, and it was probably our downfall in the second half that we didn’t play enough, but, overall, I am really pleased and I just need the players to understand that they can do it and they need to keep doing it to take their game on to the next level.”
The opening goal game after 10 minutes when Alex Matos got in one-v-one with the keeper before dropping his shoulder and firing the ball into the bottom corner.
Chelsea equalised through Zain Silcott-Duberry, but then Joe Duffy played a defence splitting pass to send Ken Aboh clear and he slotted home eight minutes before the break to give Norwich City a 2-1 lead.
“Alex (Matos) got in a couple of times down the sides and I was pleased with him to get his goal because he hasn’t scored in recent weeks,” added Greg.
“Ken (Aboh) also took his chances and was very composed in the moment. That was pleasing. We had a couple of other chances as well where we should have tested their goalkeeper a little bit more. I am a nit-picky coach, so I will be talking to the players on those chances as well, but I was really pleased for the two lads to get their goals.”
Chelsea had the better of the second half and equalised on 77 minutes through Billy Gee before then taking the lead with two minutes of normal time remaining through Jude Soonsup-Bell.
Greg felt that it was his side’s inability to control the play and continue to create chances, as they did in the first half, that proved to be his side’s downfall.
“That is probably the next level that we have got to go,” he said. “We have got to control the ball in big moments in games and try and do the same things in both halves. As the game wore on Chelsea kept coming. We were frustrated to concede the set-piece that gave them the equaliser, and a bit of momentum, and then we just couldn’t get a foothold in the game. However, even in the last minute of the match the boys were fighting and Finley Welch had a great opportunity to equalise for us. So, they kept fighting to the end and kept doing everything that we have been asking from them. So, I am full of praise for the boys.
“That is something I have been really pleased with in terms of the group; they keep going. It has not been an easy season for us all, but we keep going and we try to get around them in training and just keep trying to get them confident. I think they will get that confidence with those sorts of performances.”