Chelsea’s Under-18s recorded a comprehensive 7-0 win against a very youthful West Ham United side at Cobham on Saturday morning.
The Hammers, who featured three schoolboys in their defence, and introduced three more as substitutes, were no match for a Chelsea team that blew them away from the off. Jonathan Russell, Marc Guehi, Clinton Mola and Tariq Uwakwe all struck first-half goals, whilst Charlie Brown came off the bench to net a second-half hat-trick, and the final score could have been even bigger had the Blues not wasted several chances.
Make sure you check out Dan Davies’ excellent match gallery HERE.
Russell got things started with a simple finish after only two minutes, after West Ham had completely stopped thinking he was offside, and Chelsea never looked back. Uwakwe had a shot cleared off the line by Reece Hannam, and the supremely busy Bobbie Biddle in goal made the first of several saves to deny Juan Castillo, as what was a physically smaller West Ham side simply struggled to compete on an even footing.
Daishawn Redan and Tariq Lamptey both saw chances come and go, with Biddle a constant thorn in their sides, before Guehi emphatically headed home from Uwakwe’s corner to make it 2-0. They weren’t done there though, far from it; Uwakwe and Castillo missed again, Faustino Anjorin drew a save with a deflected effort and, by the time Mola smashed a stunning effort into the top corner to make it 3-0, Chelsea could legitimately have already scored into double figures.
They had to settle for four at the break, with Uwakwe finally getting in on the act with a simple finish after his first effort had been saved once again by Biddle, but Morris was in an unforgiving mood and introduced the prolific Brown ahead of the restart for the second half.
The visitors, to their credit, put up a stronger fight as the game went on, with 15 year-old midfielder Amadou Diallo standing out ib particular, but this was only ever going to be a case of how many Chelsea would score. Castillo’s free kick was well-saved by Biddle before Brown smashed the rebound against the crossbar, whilst Castillo himself would then curse the woodwork when his next dead-ball effort came back off the frame of the goal too.
Tushaun Walters came off the bench to positive effect, and should have scored with a close-range header, whilst West Ham defenders Joshua Okotcha and Harrison Ashby were both fortunate to remain on the pitch for fouls that had each arguably denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
The closing stages belonged to Brown, however. Having missed a good one-on-one earlier on addition to rattling the frame of the goal, he was no longer to be denied when latching onto Russell’s through ball, confidently slotting a finish between Biddle’s legs for 5-0.
And he wasn’t finished there. One became two when he pounced on a defensive error with clinical efficiency, and he went on to round off an eight-minute treble with a smart take after Marcel Lavinier had led the charge on a muscular counter-attack.
The comprehensive victory barely flattered Chelsea on a day where they could have had twice as many goals, but it keeps them well clear at the top of the table with a fortnight until their next league outing, away to Tottenham. Next Saturday sees them welcome Newcastle to Cobham in the U18 Premier League Cup.
Chelsea: Žiger, Lamptey, Lavinier, Guehi (c), Panzo, Mola, Anjorin (Gilmour), Russell, Redan (Walters), Uwakwe (Brown), Castillo
Subs not Used: Tié, Gallagher
Goals: Russell, Guehi, Mola, Uwakwe, Brown (3)
West Ham United: Biddle, Forson, Hannam (Fevrier), Okotcha, Dalipi, Ashby, E.Longelo, Lewis (Diallo), Adarkwa, Rosa (Kileba), El Mhassani
Subs not Used: Thomas, Roach
Booked: Ashby, Okotcha, Dalipi