Own goal sees Blues beat Blackburn in First Leg.
Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Chelsea
The FA Youth Cup sponsored by E.ON
Semi-Final First Leg
7pm, Wednesday 17 March
Ewood Park, Blackburn Rovers FC
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Chelsea may have crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night, but their youngsters proved the future is bright as they won the first leg of their FA Youth Cup Semi-Final against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, where an unfortunate own-goal from Tom Hitchcock after 23 minutes gave the visitors a lead they were not to relinquish.
The Blues are aiming to win reach their second Youth Cup Final in three years and they have now gone 12 games without defeat as they set themselves up perfectly for Monday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Yet the game was marred by an incident early in the second-half that saw a player from both sides dismissed after a scuffle, with Blackburn’s Michael Potts and Chelsea’s Kaby Djalo both seeing red.
But Chelsea deserved their win – and the son of a Chelsea old-boy provided it, even if Hitchcock will not want to remember the goal.
The striker’s father is former Chelsea goalkeeper Kevin, but he scored at the wrong end after deflecting Jacopo Sala’s corner into his own net.
It was a nightmare start for the hosts, and they were up against a defence that had conceded just one goal in its last four games.
That record was kept intact when Aziz Dean-Conteh cleared Grant Hanley’s header off the line after the centre-back had risen highest to meet a corner.
Both sides were reduced to ten men shortly after and Blackburn continued to press, with Sam Walker using all of his 6’5” frame to keep out Hitchcock’s header as the forward tried to atone for his earlier error.
But Chelsea held on to take a slender lead into the return leg in a competition where away goals do not count double and Dermot Drummy, Chelsea’s manager, was full of praise for his youngsters after the game.
“I'm pleased,” he said. “The boys matured tonight in what was a very tough game. We didn't get the call in a lot of free-kicks but they kept a good mentality and we played some good football.
“Blackburn worked really hard, put their foot in but we kept our composure and tried to play.
“Sam Walker made a great save and all the defenders did well. Jeffrey Bruma has shown fantastic attitude - on the bench for the Champions League one night, up here for the youth team the next and he just gets on with it.
“We can now dictate the game a bit at the Bridge and it will still be a tough game without a doubt, but hopefully if we can produce a battling performance like tonight's again we can go through.”
Video highlights of the game will be available to watch right here on TheFA.com on Thursday.
