U18s: Chelsea 4-1 Bolton

IN BRIEF

Wanderers’ under-18 side suffered a 4-1 reverse against their Chelsea counterparts on Saturday morning.

The hosts had opened the scoring through Kasey Palmer half way through the first period, with Chelsea captain Charlie Colkett and Ike Ugbo extending their lead following the restart.

Sam Bailey did snatched a consolation late on for Wanderers, but substitute Mukhtar Ali grabbed a fourth for the Blues in the final moments of the clash to condemn the Whites to defeat.

FIRST HALF

The game started quickly, with Chelsea's Trevor Chalobah attempting an ambitious shot that the wind carried miles over the crossbar while Bolton's first effort fell to Will Abbotts who fired into the hosts’ side netting after a drop of the shoulder. 

With a quarter of an hour gone and the Blues’ build up play produced a half volley from Colkett - the first piece of handling required from the Bolton man between the sticks, Harry Campbell. 

Wanderers went close through Christoper Cvetko’s free kick which flew wide of the upright, but it wasn’t long before Chelsea drew first blood with 24 minutes gone as Ola Aina advanced down the left and produced a neat cross into the box which Palmer met with precision unmarked from close range to put the hosts ahead. 

Both keepers then made strong saves as Bradley Collins first denied Cvetko at point blank range then Palmer looking to double his tally was matched by Campbell's instinctive dive and strong palm to his left. 

Chike Kandi had a wild shot with five minutes of the half remaining, but off balance it cleared the netting behind the goal, while Jordan Hendrie beat his marker before shooting wide of the upright as the first period came to its conclusion.

SECOND HALF

Chelsea made two changes at the break, but it was Bolton who came out with a greater urgency and thus upping the game’s tempo. 

Despite a sprightly start from David Lee and Tony’s Kelly’s side however, it was the Blues who had the first effort of the half through Ugbo who shot straight at Campbell.

Moments later though, the Blues made no mistake as they doubled their advantage through Colkett who converted after a polished one-two with substitute Ali.

On the hour mark, another neat move from the hosts reaped dividends as another replacement Bolkiah found Chike Kandi and his wicked low driven was dispatched by Ugbo to make it three.

With the home side controlling proceedings, Wanderers almost snatched a consolation on the counter with 15 minutes remaining as Bailey made a darting ran and crossed to Abbotts, but unfortunately the frontman failed to get a clear connection on the ball at the far post.

Buoyed by the opportunity, Bailey took the initiative once more as he saw his deflected cross collected at the near post flamboyantly by the Chelsea keeper with his teammates lurking.

Despite Chelsea being three to the good, the Whites weren’t finished in the game with Saul Hamer replacing Jamie Hinchliffe to give the Whites more options going forward.

The change nearly worked for club’s youngsters as with ten minutes remaining Hamer put Carl Kennedy through one on one with the Blues’ shot stopper Collins, but Wanderers’ captain was unable to capitalise.

Not to be denied altogether however, Bolton secured a goal of their own five minutes from time as Bailey, a man who had been in the thick of the action, fired home in off the crossbar to extend Wanderers’ record of scoring in every game so far this calendar year.

As the game headed towards its conclusion though, Chelsea regained their three goal advantage as substitute Ali powered home from the edge of the Bolton penalty area to ensure that the Blues ended the clash on a high.

The youngsters will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways when they face Southampton on home soil next Saturday, kick off 11am.