In a game that came to life in the latter end of the second half, our boys came out victorious in the lunchtime kick-off against Derby County as late strikes from midfielder McEachran and striker Fiabema were enough to see off the visitors and seal the points.

This was far from being a memorable game but nonetheless Andy Myers and his team will be pleased to have secured the victory in the end, despite the lack of clear-cut chances from both teams.

Team selection

Myers maintained the formation that served the team well in midweek against Bristol Rovers. With a couple of players filtering back from international duty Dion Rankine maintained his place in the starting lineup. Brodie Hughes came in for Alfie Giulchrist. Lewis Hall came in for the suspended Xavier Simons and in goal there was a start for Lucas Bergstrom.

Slow start

It was a very high tempo game to begin with, as both sides enjoyed possession in the opening ten minutes of the game.

There were no real clear cut chances, however Derby did have the first shot of the game with an effort that went straight at Chelsea keeper Lucas Bergstrom.

Following the high intensity start to the game, it went very quiet. Both sides enjoyed spells with the ball without really creating much. There were several occasions for both sides, where the final pass was lacking. On the other hand, it can be seen as a credit to the organisation of both defence’s.

After some more periods of possession, cue the first big chance of the game and it fell to Derby’s Osalee Aghatise. He fired a right footed shot goalwards which was saved expertly by keeper Bergstrom. As half-time beckoned, following some nice combination play Lewis Baker was put through on goal from a nice flick from Vale. He attempted a left footed placed shot which beat the keeper but could only find the foot of the post. Chelsea’s biggest moment of the half.

Even exchanges

Myers made a half-time change, which saw Nunn come off for Jayden Wareham. The second half started with our boys taking control of the game. The possession of the ball was now camped in the Derby half. With some brief flirting in and around the Derby 18-yard box, the pendulum swung again in Derby’s favour.

They did fashion a chance with this possession as the dangerous Derby number ten, jinked his way into the box; his deflected effort found its way to right-back Kornell McDonald who fired a right footed shot which flashed wide. Derby fashioned another opening just after the hour mark with their right-back delivering a quality cross which found the head of their number ten.

His header was skewed wide. We finally created our first chance of the game in the 70th minute of the game as an exchange of passes between Baker and sub Fiabema led to Baker’s drilled shot being saved by the keeper at his near post. From the subsequent corner Mbuyamba’s towering header, was straight at the keeper. Either side and we would have had the opener.

Game changer

With the game threatening to peter out like the first half, a flick on found Fiabema who then flicked it beyond his defender putting him through on goal. With only the keeper to beat, Derby’s number three hauled Fiabema down committing the foul and conceding a penalty.

Top goalscorer Vale with the chance to give us the lead however, skied his penalty with 7 minutes to go. Vale had another opportunity to give us the lead as he cut in onto his right but his right footed shot could only find the gloves of the Derby keeper.

With it looking increasingly likely that the game would end scoreless, Brooking sent in a lofted cross to the far post, Vale’s headed effort was saved by the Derby keeper but the rebound found McEachran who was on hand to tap the ball in. It was cleared off the line but the linesman signalled to the referee to award the goal with the ball clearly crossing the line.

With Derby opening up to try and get an equaliser, Fiabema pounced on a loose ball and he made no mistake whilst through on goal, placing it into the top corner of the net. The Norwegian striker has now scored two years in a row at home to Derby.

Our boys will be very happy to have secured the three points against the side bottom of the PL2.

This win puts us at eleven points, with back-to-back wins in all competitions. We can now look forward to our next fixture in this competition which is a 5pm kick-off away to Leicester on Saturday 23rd October.

Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Lucas Bergstrom, Dion Rankine, Josh Brooking, Xavier Mbuyamba, Brodie Hughes; Lewis Hall (Bryan Fiabema 70), Lewis Baker (c), George Nunn (Jayden Wareham 45); George McEachran, Harvey Vale, Jude-Soonsup Bell (Joe Haigh 62)Unused subs: Ethan Wady, Josh TobinScorers: McEachran 85, Fiabema 90+3

Derby County (3-4-2-1): Harrison Foulkes, Kornell McDonald, Reece Hutchinson, Jordan Brown, Eiran Cashin (c), Will Grewall-Pollard, Liam Thompson, Connor Dixon, Jack Stretton, Osalee Aghatise, Luke Plange.Unused subs: CJ Clarke, Alfie Roberts, Andizes De Gracia, Alex Matthews, Malcolm Ebiowei.Booked: Dixon 37; Aghatise 49; Plange 85Sent off: Hutchinson 81.