WATCH: Swindon Town 2-3 Chelsea U21, EFL Trophy: Anjorin brace, C.Brown goal, Cumming save

On Tuesday, before all the Transfer Deadline Day madness engulfed all of football including even Chelsea (despite our transfer ban!), Chelsea’s under-21 side, now under new head coach Andy Myers, played some actual football, with actual stakes. I know! It still exists, football between the transfer windows and among the hot takes! We must cherish and nurture it, for it is frail and increasingly and afterthought.

The match was unfortunately not shown anywhere live — not helping! — but someone was kind enough to collect a few of the Chelsea highlights (and only the Chelsea highlights) in the video you can see above. So don’t let it fool you into thinking that Chelsea won 3-0. The final score was in fact 3-2, with League Two Swindon Town equalizing twice before finally succumbing to a Charlie Brown strike on the hour-mark.

Prior to that, Tino Anjorin, the next big thing in goals coming up through the ranks, should’ve collected a first-half hat-trick but had to settle for a brace. Anjorin, still just 17, scored 11 goals last season and should be looking to improve markedly on that total this season.

Other names to keep an eye on for the recent future, such as preseason star Billy Gilmour, Juventus-linked Juan Castillo, the impressive Ian Maatsen, both Tariqs, Uwakwe and Lamptey, and soon to be fifth-choice center back Marc Guehi all played the full 90, while newly re-contracted Jamie Cumming made one outstanding stop. The only bad part was George McEachran suffering an injury halfway through the first half.

This was Chelsea’s first match in the group stages of the EFL Trophy (née Checktrade Trophy; now officially called Leasing.com Trophy), where we’ll also face the senior side of Bristol City Rovers and Plymouth Argyle. Chelsea are 1 of 16 academies featuring in the lower league cup tournament, and will be looking to go a bit further than last year’s Round of 16 elimination (only Manchester City’s U21 team made it further).

Here are a few pictures from the night as well:

Grid View

• The name is (Faus)Tino Anjorin, let’s hear it! Photo by Clive Howes/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
• Billy G and Tino Photo by Clive Howes/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
• Charlie Brown holds off his man Photo by Clive Howes/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
• Marcel Lavinier winds up Photo by Clive Howes/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
• Charlie Brown celebrates his winner Photo by Clive Howes/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
• Andy Myers leads the smiles all around Photo by Clive Howes/Chelsea FC via Getty Images