The Blues are preparing for the start of the new season next weekend and headed to Hertfordshire for their final friendly of the summer.

Regular development squad faces Sam McClelland, Thierno Ballo, George Nunn and Jayden Wareham all started for Andy Myers’s men, who were ultimately beaten by a solitary second-half goal at Meadow Park.

Harvey Vale went closest for the visitors in the first period, twice denied by goalkeeper Nathan Ashmore, while Ballo struck the foot of the post later in the game. Down the other end, Lucas Bergstrom made a few fine saves but was ultimately helpless when Josh Rees powered in a header early after the restart.

With a Premier League 2 derby against Tottenham up first for our youngsters on Monday 16 August, attentions now switch to making final preparations ahead of the campaign curtain-raiser and Myers feels his group are in decent shape despite plenty of summer challenges.

‘Pre-season has been good,’ he told the official Chelsea website. ‘We’ve had a few issues with games being cancelled so we’re two games behind where we’re supposed to be but we’ve not been the only ones to experience that.

‘It’s all about trying to get minutes into players and making the rest up with training. With the testing we do and the close contacts rules to do with Covid-19, there will always be people that get affected so we just have to adapt and adjust, which might mean bringing from the younger age groups.

‘It seems to be moving in the right direction and we’re not having to shut everything down all the time so it’s something we have to try and live with now.’

Myers has been without a number of his squad during pre-season for a variety of reasons but hopes the coming week will allow him time to work with the group he expects to be his for the bulk of 2021/22, a campaign that will also see supporters return to Academy games.

‘It has been very disrupted for us,’ he added. ‘We’ve only been able to work with 10 or 11 of our actual Under-23s players so far, with the rest made up of second-years and a few loan players involved against Woking.

‘Hopefully in the coming days we’ll get a settled group together and a lot of work will be done then but I think the players know what is required from them. It’s just about getting them fit and ready without breaking them because half the squad are probably fitter than the other half right now.

‘We’re looking forward to the fans being back in the stadiums and that changes it a little bit for us. It will be nice because it gives a different aspect to things and puts players under pressure at times as well.’

The development squad start their season with a trip to Tottenham on Monday 16 August, kick-off 7pm.