The report

Chelsea got off to a flying start in this last-16 tie against Norwich City, as Ronnie Stutter gave us the lead just 10 minutes in. Captain Brodi Hughes found Deivid Washington with a good ball into the box and the Brazilian squared for Stutter to turn in at the back post.

Ted Sharman-Lowe produced the first of several excellent saves to deny Norwich one-on-one, but before long Washington found the net himself to give us a two-goal lead with a brilliant effort. This time it was Michael Golding taking the direct route forward, but the striker's control on the chest was impeccable, before he turned inside two defenders and lifted a cheeky finish over the keeper.

We couldn't hold our advantage, though, as Norwich pulled one back from a corner on the brink of half-time and then leveled after the break. It was unlucky for the Blues, as Dylan Williams produced a good block, only to see the rebound fall perfectly for the Canaries to score.

However the Blues, and Washington, were not to be denied our place in the quarter-finals. With eight minutes left, the Brazilian reacted quickest when Hughes flicked on a corner to score the winning goal from six yards.

The reaction

After the match, Under-21s head coach Mark Robinson was particularly pleased with the way his side started the game, both in overall performance and taking an early lead.

'We started really well and had good control,' he said. 'They were organised but we were moving the ball well, playing good football and created some really good situations. We thoroughly deserved our early goal.

'Norwich definitely offered a threat on the counter so we needed to be aware of that, and Teddy had to pull off a really good save between our two goals. Generally we were very much in control, but it was very important that when we were attacking we had really good structure behind the ball.'

However, Robinson was less pleased with the way the game developed after we had taken a two-goal lead, feeling we eased the pressure on our opponents.

'After the second goal, we stopped passing with a purpose so much. We had the ball but we got a little bit sloppy, a little bit open, and gave them a way back into the game. The goal just before half-time changed things.

'We told the boys at half-time that when you’re ahead every pass has to have a purpose, not just keeping the ball for the sake of it. We knew Norwich would come out strong after getting the goal just before half-time, but we held firm and after 10 minutes got back in control again and I felt quite comfortable at 2-1, even if there's always a risk when the scoreline's that close.'

We ended the match with a deserved win, though, and Robinson found our reaction to the equaliser particularly impressive when we kept pushing to get the late winner, despite the players' gruelling schedule in recent weeks.

'I felt they got the second against the run of play and after that it became quite tight. We were still edging it, but they definitely carried a threat on the break, so it was very pleasing that we scored the third.

'I’m really happy to go through. There were a lot of positives, also little things that could have been better, but I do have to take into account that it was our fifth game in 17 days, so there was definitely a little bit of tiredness out there. We never want to use that as an excuse, but that is the reality.

'So on the whole I was really proud of the boys’ performance and effort, they thoroughly deserved to go through. Although it could have been a night when we won the game comfortably if we’d shown better game management, to show that resilience to come back in those circumstances was pleasing.'

The teams

Chelsea 3-2 Norwich City

Chelsea (3-4-1-2): Ted Sharman-Lowe; Brodi Hughes (c), Kaiden Wilson, Dylan Williams; Zain Silcott-Duberry, Samuel Rak-Sakyi (Kiano Dyer 75), Michael Golding, Zak Sturge; Leo Castledine; Deivid Washington (Jimmy-Jay Morgan 89), Ronnie Stutter (Dujuan Richards 89)
Unused subs: Max Merrick, Richard Olise
Scorers: Stutter 10, Deivid Washington 24, 82

Norwich (4-4-2): Daniel Barden, Kellen Fisher (Regan Riley 65), Gabe Forsyth, Liam Gibbs (Harry Brooke 64), Charlie Wilson, Waylon Renecke, Adian Manning (Uriah Djedje 85), Pedro Lima, Kenneth Aboh, Finley Welch, Elliot Myles (Errol Mundle-Smith 51)
Unused sub: Marcel McIntosh
Scorers: Gibbs 45+1, Mundle-Smith 71
Booked: Gibbs 49