The young Blues put in a mature display to beat League One outfit Oxford United 2-1 away from home. Burstow and Hall both scored fantastic individual efforts to give us a much-needed win, putting us in a great place to get through to the next round of the competition.

Oxford took the lead through Matty Taylor as he was in the right place to prod home following a scramble in the box after a corner kick. The momentum swung between both teams as Taylor and Marcus Browne had chances to extend the home side’s lead, while Ben Elliott and Omari Hutchinson, who missed from the penalty spot, had opportunities to score on our end.

However with just over 10 minutes to go, Burstow levelled for us with a fine effort from distance which caught goalkeeper Simon Eastwood off guard. Lewis Hall then doubled our lead with a powerful right-footed shot which found the top corner of the net.

That was how the game would end with our boys securing the three points, our first on the board in this group campaign.

Team news

Mark Robinson named an unchanged side from the team that drew in the PL2 at the weekend against Leicester City. On that occasion, we twice took the lead in the game against the young Foxes but were twice pegged back with equalisers as we searched for a winner.

With Oxford United’s poor form, there was an opening for our young Blues to capitalise.

Exciting start

It was a fast start from both sides as our young Blues and The U’s were looking to control possession whilst giving each other no time on the ball.

A half-chance in the opening moments of the game was created through good wing play between Hutchinson and Derrick Abu. The latter’s cross found an unmarked Elliott but his touch let him down before he could have a shot.

Set-back

Elliott almost made up for that touch as he latched onto a loose ball in midfield and struck a powerful effort from distance, but it cannoned back off the foot of the post.

Soon after though, the away team were ahead as a scramble from a corner fell to Taylor, who flicked into the corner of the net.

We were giving a good account of ourselves despite being a goal down and we almost levelled as Hutchinson from 30 yards out fired a free-kick which keeper Eastwood saved spectacularly.

Neither side were firmly in control of the contest yet it was our development squad getting the opportunities and a flick-on from Elliott after a long ball from goalkeeper Eddie Beach put Burstow one-on-one with the keeper, but the striker rushed his shot and it trickled into the arms of Eastwood.

Pushing our opponents back

The home side created the next big chance as a flowing move ended with Alex Gorrin firing just wide from the edge of the box.

Oxford created the second period’s first opening as their second-half substitute Cameron Brannagan found space in the box but Beach was well placed to block the shot with a left boot.

Beach was called into action again as a knock-on from a long ball found the path of Taylor, who looked to place the ball in the far corner of the net but a strong save from the former Southampton shot-stopper kept us in the tie.

Finding our feet

A well-worked corner kick was our first opportunity of the half as Elliott did well to find Charlie Webster on the edge of the box but his shot on target was blocked well.

We then seemed to have found our equaliser, but an offside flag ruled out Burstow’s instinctive finish after an Elliott shot was parried into his path.

The next goal in a back-and-forth game was going to be crucial and the home side almost found the net through Marcus Browne, whose deflected shot looped over Beach but just over the bar too.

The pendulum swung back in our favour and the lively Elliott, who had been our biggest threat, again won the ball back well and drove towards goal, firing another shot from outside the box and just putting it wide. We were getting closer.

Hutchinson picked up the ball from just inside the area and took on the opposing defender, twisting and turning until he eventually drove past Anderson, who had no choice but to bring down the winger.

The forward picked himself up to take the penalty but Eastwood saved the initial spot-kick, as well as the follow-up shot from the left-footed player.

Vintage Chelsea

We did eventually score and it was a fantastic goal as Burstow saw Eastwood off his line and struck a wonderful lofted effort from distance which flew in over the keeper.

We continued to show our intent to win the game and our development squad delivered with a second as a nice exchange of passes between Abu, Hutchinson and Webster found Hall in the box. The midfielder found some space with a lovely shimmy and finished into the top corner with a right-footed shot.

We did well to see the game out as the League One outfit piled on some late pressure but goals from Burstow and Hall were enough to seal victory and our first win in the group. Our final game comes away at Leyton Orient later this month.

Chelsea(4-2-3-1) Eddie Beach; Derrick Abu, Alfie Gilchrist (c), Josh Brooking, Dylan Williams; Lewis Hall, Charlie Webster; Dion Rankine, Ben Elliott (Leo Castledine 89), Omari Hutchinson, Mason Burstow (Jude Soonsup-Bell 89)
Unused subs Max Merrick, Jimi Tauriainen, Zak Sturge
Scorers Burstow 78; Hall 82
Booked Webster 52; Beach 90+2

Oxford United(4-3-3) Simon Eastwood; Alex Gorrin, Billy Bodin (Marcus Browne 57), Matty Taylor (Kyle Joseph 57), Jodi Jones, Lewis Bate (Tyler Goodrham 63), John Mousinho (c), Marcus McGuane (Cameron Brannagan 46), James Golding, Djavan Anderson (Sam Long 70), Steve Seddon
Unused subs Eddie Brearey, James Henry
Scorers Taylor 10
Booked Gorrin 26; Bate 41