Before taking on Everton last week, we tried to overcome Brighton at Kingsmeadow, but three strikes against the woodwork denied us anything more than just a point.

The performance in that encounter with the Seagulls was mirrored during Friday night’s showing, but this time we found the goals to compliment the action on the pitch. Assistant coach Ramsay spoke after the game about his belief that the team’s dominance had been key to earning maximum points.

‘On the balance of the whole game, it was a deserved three points,' he told the Chelsea website. 'In the first half, we were well in control throughout. It panned out in quite a similar way to our recent matches, where we had a number of chances and eventually got the goals we needed.

‘In the second half, we probably lost a little bit of control and were less dominant in the way we attacked the game, but it’s a great result in the grand scheme of the last few weeks. At times, we have controlled games as we did tonight and not come away with the result we deserved. The main thing tonight was to make sure we converted our dominance into three points and we did that.’

Thierno Ballo scored the first of his two goals after 36 minutes, but Everton equalised nine minutes later, on the stroke of half-time.

Despite the setback, the 19-year-old scored again in the 68th minutew, a strike that ultimately turned out to be the winner. Ramsay believes the result came at the right time ahead of the visit of Manchester City on Sunday.

‘At half-time, we weren’t feeling too down. We believed that if we could get back control like we had in the first half, we would get those chances and find a way of winning,’ he explained. ‘At times we came close to conceding but didn’t and that’s where we will be left with a slightly sour note, but in general we were pleased.

‘Man City next weekend will be a tough game because they're a good side and right up at the top. This result gives us a good base going into that game, as have the performances over the last month or so. The fact that we’ve managed to turn the performance against Everton in to points stands us in really good stead for what is a tricky game against City and then a big finish to the season.’

Before the development squad take on Man City on Sunday morning, our Under-18s are in action twice. Firstly, they travel to Crystal Palace on Tuesday morning with an 11am kick-off time before a match away at Leicester City on Saturday afternoon. Kick-off for the latter at their training ground is 12 noon.