With less than a week left until the Professional Development League kicks off, Chelsea’s Under-21 team continued their good form with a 1-0 win at Kingstonian on Saturday.
A quite sublime 30-yard strike from Billy Clifford with seven minutes left on the clock secured a deserved win for Dermot Drummy’s side, who played well within themselves in the first match of a busy week.
To that end, the squad was heavily rotates and there was 90 minutes for Josh McEachran and 75 for Nathaniel Chalobah and Sam Hutchinson.
The trio hadn’t featured much since midway through the first team’s US your and match fitness was the order of the day.
Hutchinson’s enthusiasm and relentless work ethic were on display throughout as he displayed exactly why he’s been involved at much higher levels, whilst Clifford made things tick as usual before capping a fine 45 minutes with a superb goal.
The Under-21s now head onwards to Ireland to face Dundalk before hosting Manchester City on Friday night at Griffin Park.
Chelsea: Blackman (Walker 60), Hutchinson (Kane 75), Davey (T.Musonda 45), Aké (Loftus-Cheek 45), Deen-Conteh (Affane 45), Chalobah (Nkumu 75), Saville (B.Clifford 45), McEachran, L.Musonda (T.Hazard 45), Baker (Swift 45), Kiwomya (Coombes 45)