KINGSMEADOW, 25 OCT — 17-year-old Reggie Walsh fought over the ball in the six-yard box to surpass an overwhelmed Tommy Setford in the 50th minute to solidify Chelsea U21’s 2-1 win over Arsenal on Saturday, which brought the Blues to 15 points in the Premier League 2 table.
Walsh started for the first team in a Champions League match against Ajax on Wednesday and signed his first professional contract yesterday. But today he returned to head coach Calum McFarlane and the U21 team, integrating back into the squad.
“So he understands that [he’s not a first team player], and he also knows that this is his arena,” said McFarlane. “This is his team, this is where his bread and butter is, everything else is the icing on the cake.”
The first of the two teenage scorers was 18-year-old Jesse Derry, who completed a witty cross from Ato Ampah in the 33rd minute to surpass Setford after four attempts, including an offside goal from Genesis Antwi in the 24th minute.
The London Derby proved to be a fiery one. Both teams had large stats in attempts on goal, but not as many completions as McFarlane would have hoped considering the strong first half.
“When you are up on top for the first 60 minutes, you need to bury the game,” said McFarlane. “I think before they scored their first goal, minimum we should be three up, I think maybe four. So that’s a lesson to be learned from the fact that when you are on top, you need to kill the game.”
Arsenal’s singular goal came to fruition after substitute Osman Kamara crossed to fullback Marcell Washington in the 64th minute.
The Gunners’ attack and cohesion grew in strength after their newfound confidence came to light, creating two attempts and a free kick within four minutes. But the mindset change was ultimately too late as the Blues held strong.
“I’d probably say that the character we showed today, in terms of when we were under the cross and when Arsenal were on top, even though they had some big moments, I didn’t feel like anyone ever ran away from the challenge,” said McFarlane. “We all dug in and we worked hard. We still had a couple of chances to maybe put the game to bed, but I think the character the lads showed was impressive and I think we’re gonna need that throughout the year.”
Chelsea U21 moved up to third on the table, levelling with Tottenham Hotspur U21 and tallying up their game wins to five as they head into their next league game against Everton U21’s on 31 October, who currently hold nineteenth place.
