To finish on a high, a win over Rovers was needed on Friday night as a second-placed finish was at stake and goals from Henry Lawrence, Bryan Fiabema and Harvey Vale ensured it was Chelsea’s come full-time.

‘I’m happy with my two goals in the first half. It was a tough game on a tough pitch and they weren’t easy chances to take on such surface, it was much harder than usual,’ Lawrence tells the Chelsea website. ‘Credit to Harvey [Vale] for all of our goals today, he managed to create the opportunities for me and Bryan to finish.’

We found ourselves two goals ahead at the interval and we looked good value for the lead. However, conceding a goal three minutes after the restart wasn’t in the plan and required the Blues to step up their game later in the half.

‘We were reminded to do the basics right, we were up against a difficult side who are good both technically and physically,’ he said. ‘Taking the lead before half-time was perfect but then to concede so early on was quite a blow. Luckily we were able to pull ourselves together and score another two important goals before the end.’

With the full-time whistle came confirmation of our place in the league standings. Lawrence and the team are able to draw on the positives of an unprecedented season of football as four first-year scholars appeared for our Under-23s across the course of the campaign.

‘Obviously it’s not the position we wanted to be in at the start of the season but second is where you need to be if first is not reachable,’ he added. ‘We certainly had a few rough patches during the season but we picked up towards the end which was perfect timing to finish strongly.

‘I love to see younger players come in and do well because I’ve been in that position myself. I think the more exposure to this level of football they get, the better it is for them when it’s time to step up permanently. All of the youngsters who have come and played during the season have been a credit to the team.’