U18 Premier League Cup Match Report - Blackburn 1 Chelsea 1

Blackburn 1 Chelsea 1

Our youth team opened their campaign in the inaugural Under-18 Premier League Cup with a point on the road at Blackburn Rovers.
Jon Panzo (pictured top) headed Jody Morris’s side ahead before Callum Dolan cancelled out the advantage five minutes after the restart. Despite both sides creating opportunities to win the game in the second half and the home side reduced to 10 men for the final 15 minutes, the points were shared in the opening contest of the new cup competition. We now face Newcastle and Brighton in Group C before the group winners and the two best-ranked runners-up advance to the quarter-finals.
Morris made two changes from the side that started last weekend’s derby victory over Arsenal, with Clinton Mola and Marcin Bulka coming into the team. Bulka lined up in goal behind an unchanged back four of Marcel Lavinier, Marc Guehi, Jack Wakely and Panzo, while Mola lined up on the left of a midfield diamond.
Captain Conor Gallagher continued to anchor the side in the deepest midfield role, with George McEachran most advanced and Juan Castillo on the right. Martell Taylor-Crossdale partnered Charlie Brown up front.
The Blues opened brightly in the Lancashire sunshine as Brown was thwarted by a last-ditch intervention from Rovers captain Hayden Carter before Castillo's cross was crucially turned behind by George Wilson to deny Brown a sight at goal again moments later.
Gallagher swung in the following corner from the left and Guehi looked like he had found the bottom corner with a flicked finish but for Matthew Campbell's important low save.
However, it took just 14 minutes for the visitors to register on the scoreboard and it was a goal crafted and finished by Panzo. The defender stepped forward from left-back and advanced 50 yards upfield before feeding the ball wide to Brown and continuing his advance into the box. Brown's left-footed delivery was inviting and Panzo's header perfectly placed to beat Campbell and nestle into the bottom corner.

Skipper Conor Gallagher duels in midfield.

Clear-cut opportunities of that nature were few and far between during a well-contested first half. Bulka commanded the aerial threat into his 18-yard area well, while Mola and Taylor-Crossdale fired strikes off-target down the other end.
Brown continued to busily search for chances and caused concern for the hosts with a deflected header just wide at the far post following Taylor-Crossdale's centre but Morris's men struggled to assert their usual midfield control on the game.
Taylor-Crossdale forced a good save from Campbell at a tight angle and then spurned a shot wide at the end of a counter-attack led through the middle by the marauding McEachran and initiated by Wakely's well-timed tackle in his own box.
Tariq Lamptey replaced Taylor-Crossdale as Morris tweaked things at the interval, with the substitute introduced on the right flank, and it was down that side the Blues threatened to extend their advantage shortly after the restart.
Gallagher found the overlapping Lavinier with a perfect clipped pass and the full-back's driven cross was almost turned in for an own goal by the retreating Sam Barnes. The ball ricocheted off the defender but was kept out by an instinctive save from the goalkeeper.
Blackburn capitalised on that slice of fortune as they drew level in the contest after 50 minutes. A corner from the right was floated into the six-yard box and neither Bulka's efforts nor Lamptey's header off the line could decisively clear the danger, leaving Dolan to turn in the loose ball from close range.

Charlie Brown strikes at goal for the visitors but failed to beat the Rovers keeper.

Both sides had good opportunities to claim all three group points in the remainder of the half. Panzo blocked well to deny Kyle Connell before Jack Vale fired over following neat approach play from the home team.
The Blues continued to make gains down the right, with Lavinier and Lamptey combining well. The former delivered a dangerous low cross into the box for Brown after an hour but the striker could not make the best connection, the ball spinning into the air for Campbell to grasp.
McEachran then supplied from the left wing looking to tee up substitute forward Daishawn Redan but the Dutchman was denied by a crucial intervention from the defender.
Rovers will look to three spurned chances in five minutes as decisive in them failing to take all three points. John Buckley's rising shot from 30 yards flew narrowly over before Carter headed over a corner and then Ben Paton's stinging drive deflected just beyond the far post.
The balance of the contest then swung with 15 minutes remaining. Lavinier's tackle on the edge of his own box saw the ball fly forward into Redan's path and the striker was haring towards goal. Campbell was primed between the sticks to do his best to keep the score level but Carter interjected first, clipping Redan's heels as the defender ran across his path.
The referee had no choice but to show a red card for the last man foul, though the damage was less than it could have been for the hosts as Gallagher's deflected effort from the resulting free-kick bounced a foot past the left upright.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Billy Barr’s side continued to fashion a threat to Bulka’s goal. Connell curled an effort narrowly wide of the far post and then spurned a great opportunity, scooping over the bar having been played clear in behind by Paton.
Our best chances late on fell to Redan, whose right-foot shot clipped a defender and went just wide, and then Guehi in stoppage time. The defender, who scored a superb goal against Arsenal the previous weekend, collected Uwakwe’s cross after a short corner on the left but his well-struck effort was tipped over expertly by Campbell.
It proved to be the final action of note in an entertaining contest between the two young sides. Our Under-18s resume their league season away at Swansea City next Saturday 23 September.

Chelsea (4-diamond-2) Marcin Bulka; Marcel Lavinier, Marc Guehi, Jack Wakely, Jon Panzo; Conor Gallagher (c), Clinton Mola (Tariq Uwakwe 58), Juan Castillo (Daishawn Redan 58), George McEachran; Charlie Brown, Martell Taylor-Crossdale (Tariq Lamptey h/t)
Unused subs Karlo Ziger, Marcel Lewis
Scorer Panzo 14

Blackburn Rovers Matthew Campbell, George Wilson, Ben Paton, John Buckley, Hayden Carter (c), Sam Barnes, Callum Dolan, Matthew Chan, Kyle Connell, Jack Vale, Louis Khoury (Isaac Whitehall 76)
Unused subs Jack Evans, Ben Winterbottom, Daniel Pike, Flavien-Enzo Boyomo
Scorer Dolan 50
Booked Campbell, Chan
Sent off Carter 75

Highlights Video