There Will be Tears in N Ireland Tonight
By The Kid
October 10 2005
Oh Dear. I know that there will be a couple of young N.Ireland lasses that will be disappointed to read that 'their Academy boys' succumbed to the youngsters of Southampton, prior to the big Interational games, away at Southamption on Saturday morning.
The Saints walloped our boys 3-0, with two of the goals being scored from penalties and Chelsea even missed one of their own! Regular youngsters Jimmy Smith, Anthony Grant and Michael Mancienne were called up for the England U19s. Dean Furman and James Simmonds were called up for reserve duty (Tonight v West Ham. Updates on the message board). Hard luck to Michael Mancienne who was sent home from the England U19s suffering from mumps. The third case to hit the Chelsea youngsters squad this year. Although Chelsea lost to a team that played players with first team experience like Leon Beste and Nathan Dyer, coach Brendan Rodgers remained upbeat and said,
"We went down there last season with an older team and got destroyed. This group of players showed tremendous mentality and won a lot of plaudits. It was just disappointing the scoreline didn’t reflect the game."
"If they continue to perform well, nine times out of ten the result will reflect the performance."
Southampton took the lead just before the interval when Chelsea mistakenly ran the ball out of defence and lost possession. Southampton’s winger was able to run at Sam Hutchinson and made the most of a touch to go down. 1-0.
Midway through the second-half Dyer showed good pace and skill to run at the defence, and maybe with the first-half penalty in their minds no-one closed him down sufficiently and he made it 2-0.
Finnish summer signing Toni Saarelma then hit the bar for Chelsea. Substitute Jack Saville is a schoolboy who plays for Chelsea Under 15s, and he made his youth team debut having to cope with the likes of Beste. He conceded the second penalty on Beste with a mistimed tackle. But Brendan was delighted with his involvement. "He did well, I was really pleased," he said.
Almost immediately a good spell of Chelsea possession climaxed with Hutchinson being upended in the box. Jack Watkins took the penalty and hit a post.
"Scott Sinclair was the best player on the pitch," says Brendan. "They all said we are the best side they’ve played this season."
Southampton are top of the Group having been runners-up in last season’s FA Youth Cup.
Chelsea Team:
Hamann; Hutchinson, Worley, Cork (c), Bertrand; Saarelma, Bridcutt (Saville), Tillen; Cummings, Watkins, Sinclair.