U16S CONQUER CHELSEA IN FINE DISPLAY AT ABBEY STADIUM

Cambridge United’s U15/16 age group marked the club’s tenth anniversary of the re-opened Youth Scheme with a 2-1 victory over Chelsea at the Abbey Stadium.

Following on from the two previous fixtures at the Abbey Stadium against Tottenham Hotspurs and Liverpool, the Under 16s produced yet another impressive display against the Blues in front of 723 supporters.  

United more than matched their London opponents during the opening stages of the match, with Adam Capel enjoying the first sight of goal for the U’s, heading over from eight yards out.

However, the visitors opened the scoring on 16 minutes with a well-struck left footed drive from 25 yards which found the top right corner of the U’s net.

United kept themselves in the match well though and were level on 35 minutes when a clever through ball from the outside of Marcel Lewis’s right boot fell into the path of Joe Neal who slotted past the onrushing Chelsea keeper with great composure.

The boys in Amber and Black continued to impress after the break and perhaps could have taken a lead of their own, with Neal close to a second and Ben Worman seeing his one on one opportunity saved by the feet of the Chelsea keeper on the hour mark.

Finley Iron, between the sticks for United, pulled off a number of important saves as an evenly contested fixture rolled into the closing minutes.

With six minutes remaining Adam Capel produced a moment of magic for the U’s to direct a looping header over the Chelsea goalkeeper from Lewis’ set piece delivery to register a winner and round off an excellent evening.

Speaking post-match Mark Bonner commented: “It was a night that the players will certainly remember and it concludes the season nicely.

“The game was exactly what we thought it would be, tough! After 20 minutes when Chelsea had a lot of possession and we went one goal behind, perhaps there was a little bit of fear about how the night may have panned out. 

“However we stayed in the game, carried a threat on the counter attack and as the game progressed we found our way. We are really pleased with the outcome and although it isn’t always about the result, it certainly matters to the players.

“This is the third of these games this season and we are extremely grateful for all the supporters who came out to watch, because for the players there really isn’t anything quite like playing in front of a crowd.”

You can watch a full interview with Mark Bonner at CU Player very soon.