Chelsea reserves 3-0 West Ham United reserves
West Ham United reserves' winning run came to a halt at Chelsea on Monday night as the home team's superior strength told in a difficult derby.
Claudio Pizarro, Fabio Ferreira and Jack Saville did the damage for the hosts but the likes of Jordan Spence and Junior Stanislas can take heart from lively displays. The defeat means Aston Villa, who won 1-0 at home against Birmingham City, have now taken top spot in the southern section of the Barclays Premier Reserve League and they still have four games left compared to United's two.
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With James Tomkins and Freddie Sears promoted to the first team and only Jimmy Walker and Henri Camara possessing any senior experience, it was always going to be a tough ask for Kevin Keen's men at Griffin Park. While Chelsea had no Under-18s on view and other big names like Branislav Ivanovic and Steve Sidwell in their ranks, the visitors had to play five youngsters who had featured in the Academy's 4-0 win against Reading just two days previously. Furthermore regulars Kyel Reid and Zavon Hines are out on loan
Jack Collison stated United's intent on 34 seconds with a fierce shot that just missed the goal before Camara, on his first appearance since getting a late run-out for the first team against Birmingham City on 9 February, had a similar effort with six minutes gone. Within a minute, though, Chelsea were in front. A long clearance by goalkeeper Stuart Searle was knocked on by Franco Di Santo into the path of Pizarro. The Peru striker made no mistake to the left of goal, rolling his shot beyond the helpless Walker.
Pizarro went close again on 12 minutes while Walker also had to be alert on another occasion to deny the towering Di Santo, the 18-year-old sensation newly arrived from Argentinian football. On 20 minutes, the United keeper did brilliantly with two saves in quick succession, one from Jimmy Smith and the second from Ivanovic, the 24-year-old Serbia defender who is tipped for big things after his January switch from Lokomotiv Moscow.
For all of Chelsea's pressure, Lee Hales very nearly equalised on the half-hour mark after good work by Stanislas. A delightful chip looked a certain goal until Searle managed to stretch and tip the ball behind to safety. Di Santo then went close on 36 minutes with a free header but contrived to miss the target from close range. Keen's men finished the half as they had begun it but the home side remained in front at the interval.
Within four minutes of the restart, Ferreira made it two with a low shot that gave Walker no chance. The attacker set himself well to wrongfoot Bondz 'Gala before lashing into the corner of the net and the strike all but ended the away side's hopes of getting something from the game. With Sidwell beginning to pull the strings despite the best efforts of captain Collison, Chelsea were able to remain a threat. That said, Northern Irish youth international Daniel Kearns got a valuable hour at this level while Stanislas did really well midway through the half to work an opening before firing just wide.
Chelsea finally made it 3-0 on 75 minutes with Saville heading in with his very first touch - just 12 seconds after entering the fray. The remaining minutes saw only half-chances for both teams from distance on a heavy pitch that had begun to take its toll on the young legs. The likes of Spence, with a couple of good late challenges, will have learned much from a difficult defeat that, taken in context, will do much for their future development.
Chelsea: Stuart Searle, Carl Magnay (Tom Taiwo 54), Branislav Ivanovic, Jimmy Smith, Shaun Cummings, Steve Sidwell, Fabio Ferreira, Phil Younghusband, Franco Di Santo, Claudio Pizarro (Jack Saville 74), Ricardo Fernandes (Daniel Philliskirk 63)
Sub not used: Niclas Heimann
West Ham United: Jimmy Walker, Ashley Miller (Ryan O'Neill 46), Jordan Spence, Bondz 'Gala, Joe Widdowson, Junior Stanislas, Lee Hales, Jack Collison, Daniel Kearns (Anthony Edgar 59), Tony Stokes (Oliver Lee 79), Henri Camara
Subs not used: Adam Street, Tom Harvey, Tony Brookes.