It was a scrappy game and we struggled to maintain sustained pressure against a Cambridge side who were content with making it as hard as possible for us to break them down.

There were big chances for Leo Castledine, Tudor Mendel-Idowu and Donnell McNeilly, however we could not find the goals needed to come from behind.

A towering header from captain Jaydyn Lott midway through the first half was enough to see Chelsea bow out of the competition.

Positive start

It was an extremely fast start from our boys as within the opening minute of the game Mendel-Idowu had a right-foot shot which needed to be tipped past the post by goalkeeper Finch.

Despite this, the home side settled well and had an attempt of their own as Yearn spun inside the box but dragged his shot wide. An early warning sign for Chelsea.

Twenty minutes in we had the best chance of the game so far as McNeilly did well down the left, putting in a dangerous cross which was parried by the keeper into the path of Castledine, but he could not steer his shot into the net.

Uphill task

The home side were growing into the game, and it was Dan Barton who was causing our backline some issues. His pace allowed him to break through on more than one occasion, but Brodi Hughes stopped him both times.

As we went through a lull period, the U’s grew in confidence and captain Lott’s towering header flew in off the bar from a corner.

It was Cambridge who had the next chance and it was a big one as a loose clearance from Josh Acheampong fell to Ismaili, but the midfielder’s low shot struck the keeper’s right-hand post.

It was a similar start to the first period in the second half from our young Blues and we almost equalised as a floated corner was met by the head of Mendel-Idowu, but Finch did well to palm away from danger.

Big chances

Just before the hour mark Mendel-Idowu slid in McNeilly with a perfect through ball but McNeilly’s shot was stopped well by Finch, whose saves were keeping his team ahead.

McConnell almost doubled his team’s lead as he used the outside of his boot to steer a shot towards goal, but Merrick made a great fingertip save to keep Chelsea in it.

Our best chance of the game came through good combination play between McNeilly and Boniface. The latter delivered a wicked cross but a lack of communication between Castledine and Mendel-Idowu meant that they got in each other’s way as the ball trickled wide.

The game was almost put further out of reach by Amaru Kaunda as Merrick’s free-kick fell into his path, but he miscued his effort into what was an empty net.

That was how it would end as the U’s caused a major upset in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Max Merrick; Joshua Acheampong, Brodi Hughes, Harrison Murray-Campbell; Frankie Runham (Ronnie Stutter 57), Kiano Dyer (Louis Flower 86), Harrison McMahon, Leo Castledine (c), Zain Silcott-Duberry (Somto Boniface 46); Donnell McNeilly, Tudor Mendel-Idowu.

Unused subs: Ted Curd, Michael Golding, Sam Rak-Sakyi, Tyrique George.

Booked: Somto Boniface 64.

Cambridge United (4-4-2): Tom Finch; Greg Sandiford, George Scales, Dan Carey-Evans, Jaydyn Lott (c), George Hoddle, Roman Ismaili, Brandon Njoku (Faruq Usman 86), Kai Yearn, Glenn McConnell, Dan Barton (Amaru Kaunda 72).

Unused subs: JJ Briggs, Patrick Staszewski, Oscar Winterbone, Liam Chadwick, Danny Tyler-Cowlin.

Scorer: Jaydyn Lott 35.

Booked: Brandon Njoku 70; Dan Carey-Evans 80; Tom Finch 88; Amaru Kaunda 90+3.