West Ham v Chelsea 24/11/2010

[Hutch]

I didn't even know this one was on, so all I've got is the report from the official site:

RESERVE REPORT: WEST HAM UNITED 1 CHELSEA 2

The reserves made it four league wins out of six this season after recovering from going a goal down and then a man down on a freezing night in Essex.

Jacob Mellis and Gokhan Tore (pictured) scored before the break in the match at Bishop's Stortford FC but Mellis made it a mixed week personally, following up on his first team debut last night by receiving a red card tonight for violent conduct.

It was a competitive game throughout, a few hard challenges went in, and having not started well, Chelsea took control and then fought a successful rearguard action after the sending off.

Within a couple of minutes of the start, Aziz Deen-Conteh pulled off a great sliding goal-line clearance after Chelsea had been opened up down our right and Christian Montano shot passes Jan Sebek.

However the home side were only kept out until the ninth minute when Billy Clifford was whistled up for handball. Zavon Hines put the penalty into the bottom corner with Sebek going the other way.

West Ham's pace in attack was stretching the visitors. Former Chelsea striker Frank Nouble wasted a good chance soon after and Fabio Borini was booked 16 minutes in for not retreating and blocking a free-kick. But then the Blues kicked into gear.

Borini was chopped down on the edge of the box but when he took the free-kick himself he blasted into the middle of the wall but on 25 minutes the equaliser came, from a shot that must have been watched more in hope than expectation by Mellis as he let loose a grasscutter from 30 yards.

However Robert Green understudy Ruud Boffin failed with his handling and the ball rolled over the line with Borini closing fast.

West Ham were shown two yellow cards in the course of the first half, Eyjolfsson for dissent and Hines for kicking Kaby who had an influential and tidy game in the centre of the park.

There was a chance for West Ham when Jordan Spence headed a free-kick over but soon Chelsea went ahead with a goal out of nothing.

A long ball was knocked on by Borini and the Hammers defence left Tore alone to bring the ball down and finish without fuss. There were 10 minutes to go before the break.

Tore was only a foot away from making it 3-1 with three minutes of the half to play. Having swapped wings, the Turkish Under 21 international cut in from the left, moved the ball onto his right foot and smashed a shot just over.

However the Blues could have conceded too before the interval had Spence shown more composure.

Chelsea began the second half as they had the first, by clearing off the line, this time Kaby doing the honours after a scramble at a set piece.

It was becoming a more even game although the pacy Milan Lalkovic running with the ball threatened to find a way through the home defence, and the Blues really should have scored in the 58th minute.

Breaking from our own box, Lalkovic played the pass for Nathaniel Chalobah to have a 40-yard run on goal but he took a touch too strong and missed out to the keeper. It was a rare blemish on the 15-year-old's performance at centre-back.

Three minutes later Mellis was dismissed as Chelsea broke again, the midfielder kicking out at an opponent as the chased a ball. It was an action hard to understand.

The game became one of Chelsea preserving what they had and they did so fairly comfortably as West Ham knocked balls into the box.

A young team became even younger when 17-year-old Todd Kane come on for his second Chelsea reserve team game (Archange Nkumu in central defence was another 17-year-old) and Borini played a ball for the new arrival to run onto. He tested the keeper who made a good save.

The game ended on a crunching note as West Ham's Jordan Brown was booked for a foul on Jacopo Sala.

'We didn't start the first-half particularly well,' reports reserve team manager Steve Holland. 'We had some individual problems at the back but it is a young back four and West Ham had some size and power up there.

'We showed good spirit to get an equaliser and we have been asking Jacob to work on his shooting. Then we started to play well and the second goal was well taken by Gokhan who got in between the centre-back and full-back. We have been working on getting him inside more and not staying on the touchline.

'We were looking relatively comfortable but young players can do daft things and Jacob let his team-mates down when he was having a good game. We then kept their opportunities down to a minimum and we could have got another one on the break.'

Chelsea (4-3-3): Jan Sebek; Billy Clifford, Nathaniel Chalobah, Archange Nkumu, Aziz Deen-Conteh (Ben Sampayo 89); Kaby Djalo (George Saville 90+2), Jacopo Sala, Jacob Mellis; Gokhan Tore (Todd Kane 78), Fabio Borini, Milan Lalkovic.

West Ham (4-2-3-1): Ruud Boffin; Jordan Spence, Holmar Orn Eyjolfsson, Sergio Sanchez, Jordan Brown; Olly Lee, Ahmed Abdulla (Eoin Wearen 79); Blair Turgott, Zavon Hines (Dylan Tombides 69), Christian Montano; Frank Nouble.

LINK