The report

The Blues were grateful for the impact of two players off the bench for a late victory over Reading in a match of few chances, keeping up the pressure on West Ham United in the title race.

After a strong opening from the Royals, which saw Teddy Curd make a good save low at his near post to keep out the visitors’ only shot of the game, Chelsea were in control at Cobham, but found it difficult to carve out openings.

The best of the first half fell to Donnell McNeilly, when Kobe Barbour’s cross was deflected up into the air and spun towards the penalty spot, but the striker couldn’t get over his volley and it grazed the top of the bar.

There was a strong penalty shout when Harrison Murray-Campbell, whose runs from deep on the right posed arguably our biggest threat during the opening 45 minutes, was bundled down in the box, but the appeals were waved away. A goalless first half ended with Travis Akomeah turning Michael Golding’s free-kick into the side netting at the back post.

The second half followed a similar pattern, for a long period Frankie Runham’s free-kick dropping onto the roof of the net the closest we came. However, the Blues kept pushing and with around two minutes of regulation time remaining the breakthrough arrived.

Michael Golding found Ato Ampah in space on the left and the winger made use of it to cut in past the defender into the box. Ampah had dragged a shot wide of the near post from a similar position earlier, but made no mistake this time, curling a great finish inside the right-hand post.

We then made the points safe in added time, Murray-Campbell charging down the left and delivering an excellent low cross into danger, Runham arriving at the back post to slide in from six yards.

The reaction

With this match coming at the end of a difficult week, Under-18s head coach Hassan Sulaiman was delighted to make it three wins in the space of eight days, following the victories over Crystal Palace and Brighton.

'I told the boys this was going to be our hardest game of the three, which was never going to be an easy task in itself,' said Sulaiman.

'It was the last one before the international break, but also when you look at the table it’s very easy to make the assumption that you’re playing against the bottom side and automatically going to win the game.

'So our mindset was very important going into it, we needed to treat it like every other game. It was more of a psychological test than it was a technical or tactical test.

'It was pleasing that we kept plugging away and we knew the opportunity would arise. We had to defend well, of course, but we had to ensure we were playing at a high level and were able to maximise our opportunities in front of goal.

'That didn’t come until the 88th minute, so there was a sigh of relief when we did score, because it was a game we knew we should be winning. It was pleasing to get the win and in terms of performance, the consistency and persistence that we showed to keep trying to play our way and work the opening was really important.'

Again, Sulaiman was impressed by the contribution of the young trio of attacking players supporting striker McNeilly, who followed up their promising introduction against Palace with another good game this Saturday.

'We featured a number of young players again, which was also very pleasing. Of the four attackers, three were Under-16s. It’s a big learning curve for them, coming into this environment where we’re pushing to win the league and want to make sure we get the performance but also the three points.

'It’s a different type of pressure from what they’re used to in schoolboy football. For them to be involved and need to make the correct decisions in the final third, it was a brilliant challenge for them, as well as the rest of the team.'

At the other end of the pitch, the Blues have now gone four games without conceding a goal, showing a strong improvement after managing just a solitary clean sheet in the Under-18 Premier League prior to that run.

'We’re just defending well, but we can never take it for granted in these games because one day you’re defending really well and keep a clean sheet, and on another day when you’ve defended well you concede a sloppy goal.

'Things are just falling for us at the moment, but ultimately it’s a reflection of some of the good defensive work the boys have been doing across the season so far. We’ve been unfortunate in some games where we’ve conceded a sloppy goal, but it’s a testament to the boys. They’re showing resilience and a desire to defend and not concede goals.'

The teams

Chelsea 2-0 Reading

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Teddy Curd; Harrison Murray-Campbell, Kaiden Wilson, Travis Akomeah (c), Genesis Antwi (Joseph Wheeler h-t); Harrison McMahon, Michael Golding; Kobe Barbour (Landon Emenalo 89), Ryan McAidoo (Frankie Runham h-t), Rio Ngumoha (Ato Ampah 67); Donnell McNeilly
Unused sub: Luke Campbell
Scorers: Ampah 88, Runham 90+6
Booked: Akomeah 35, McMahon 70

Reading (4-2-3-1): Tom Norcott, Emmanuel Osho, Tyler Sackey, Boyd Beacroft, Harley Irish; Abraham Kanu (Phillip Duah h-t), Luke Howard (Lucas Daka 71); Jerae Jones (Aaron Nour 89), Joseph Barough, Andre Garcia; Verrell George (Larry Omoregie 58)
Unused sub: James Sharlott
Booked: Jones 57, Garcia 81