Under-18s put five past Chelsea in terrific win

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Inigo Calderon's team secured a terrific opening-day win at Cobham.

2024-08-18T06:30+01:00

Our men's under-18s got their season off to a storming start as they beat Chelsea 5-2 in Premier League South.

Joe Belmont was teed up by Darius Lane ten minutes in after Tyler Silsby’s free-kick hit the post, before Silsby scored from directly from a set-piece, craftily finding the bottom right corner from an angle.

Chizaram Ezenwata pulled one back for the Blues after Albion gave it away at the back, but Aiden West restored the two-goal cushion when he chased down a poor back pass, blocked the goalkeeper’s attempted clearance and rolled the ball into an empty net.

Chelsea would go in at the break only 3-2 down, though, after Ezenwata volleyed in from close range.

Albion had their fourth 12 minutes into the second half when Shane Nti curled a lovely effort into the bottom-right corner and the result was confirmed in the fourth minute of stoppage time thanks to Ronnie Gorman. Goalkeeper Alfie Mansell’s long ball downfield was brought down by Gorman, who ran at the Chelsea backline before finding the bottom-left corner with a drilled strike.

Men’s under-18s head coach Inigo Calderon said, “It was a really good game – obviously it has to be a really good game if you want to win at Chelsea 5-2.

“I am really pleased with the boys, I think they deserve that result because of the way they trained in pre-season, I am sure they did more sessions than anyone else in the country. We did more sessions, more meetings, more everything. Just to be ready to speed up the process compared to last year a little bit.

“Maybe I didn't expect us to be that good for the first game, but it's true that with the passion and intensity we played from the start it would be enough.

“Obviously we have room to improve and we will, but it's a great way to start. I am so happy for them."