Chelsea were up against the reigning champions of the Premier League International Cup at Stamford Bridge and it was a highly experienced PSV Eindhoven side, which included one member of Germany’s senior squad at the last World Cup.

The Blues acquitted themselves well, especially in the early stages when we controlled the tie and took the lead after Deivid Washington and Ronnie Stutter combined brilliantly. However, a couple of wayward passes when playing out from the back were ruthlessly punished by PSV to give them goals either side of half-time, and we were unable to find a way back.

Promising start

It was Chelsea who were nearly gifted the lead early on when the PSV keeper passed to Stutter 18 yards out, but the Dutchman recovered to save with his legs and the away side went straight up the other end to threaten themselves. Thankfully captain Mohamed Nassoh couldn’t keep his shot down.

We continued in the ascendancy, Zain Silcott-Duberry standing up his marker to find a yard and float a cross into the box, where Stutter’s header forced another save.

After Chelsea had controlled the opening 15 minutes, direct PSV increasingly began to threaten, even if the Blues were still just about edging the play, and Ted Sharman-Lowe had to produce an excellent low save to deny Jevon Simons as the winger cut across our box.

Ahead in style

The breakthrough arrived almost bang on the half-hour mark, and it went the way of Chelsea. Deivid Washington did well to make space for himself and spot the run of Stutter, before lifting a perfectly weighted pass over the last defender.

There was still plenty for our No9 to do. The pass was slightly behind him, but his first touch moved the ball into his path and the second rolled a finish past the keeper to nestle in the back of the net.

Stutter went close to a second when he headed just over from close range, but Sharman-Lowe again had to save well from Simons with his feet, as both teams continued to create openings.

Paying a heavy price

Unfortunately, that saw PSV equalise before half-time. It came from a Chelsea error, when we lost possession on the edge of our box, and we couldn’t recover our positioning in time to prevent Nassoh from levelling the scores.

PSV started the second half strongly, but it was Stutter who thought he'd scored again. There was bit of luck involved, as an attempted interception on Samuel Rak-Sakyi’s driven pass fell kindly in the box, but the keeper’s touch slowed our striker’s shot just enough for the defender to clear from under the crossbar and prevent a certain goal.

With 30 minutes remaining, the Blues found ourselves behind, and again it came from an error. This time PSV nipped in to intercept a back-pass ahead of Sharman-Lowe and, although the contact looked minimal, when the Dutch player went down the referee awarded a penalty, allowing Nassoh to score his second from the spot.

With a narrow lead now secured, the visitors - who play their league football in the second division of the Dutch men's pyramid - made their experience count, keeping things safe at the back and breaking up the flow of the game with a series of free-kicks. Jimmy-Jay Morgan thought he had found the goal we needed right at the end of added time, when he headed Zak Sturge's cross towards the bottom corner, but the keeper somehow got down and clawed it away.

What is next

Chelsea Under-21s are in Premier League 2 action on Monday, when we kick-off at Leeds United at midday. You can watch that game live on the Official Chelsea App.

The teams

Chelsea (3-4-1-2): Ted Sharman-Lowe; Brodi Hughes, Billy Gee (c), Dylan Williams (Ishe Samuels-Smith 70); Zain Silcott-Duberry (Dujuan Richards 70), Jimi Tauriainen (Michael Golding 81), Samuel Rak-Sakyi, Zak Sturge; Leo Castledine; Ronnie Stutter (Jimmy-Jay Morgan 78), Deivid Washington (Tyrique George 78)
Unused subs: Max Merrick, Richard Olise
Scorer: Stutter 31
Booked: Sharman-Lowe 63

PSV (4-2-3-1): Niek Schiks; Emmanuel van de Blaak, Armel Bella-Kotchap (CJ Egan-Riley 60), Matteo Dams, Koen Jansen; Tygo Land, Richard Ledezma (Mylian Jimenez 60); Jevon Simons (Tai Abed Kassus 90), Mohamed Nassoh (c), Emir Bars (Enzo Geerts 90); Jesper Uneken (Dantaye Gilbert 74)
Unused subs: Tijn Smolenaars, Bram Rovers
Scorer: Nassoh 42, pen 63
Booked: Land 80