Five goals, two reds, and one brawl as Chelsea U23 beat Spurs in Cech’s return to action

Chelsea came from behind on Monday night to beat Spurs in one of the more dramatic Reserves/U23 matches you’ll ever see.

It was like a greatest hits tour of Chelsea v. Spurs. We had Petr Cech in goal. We had a comeback from two goals down. We had a brawl and two red cards. And we had Chelsea going top of the league — the Premier League ... 2. Still counts!

It was a rather inauspicious beginning for the young Blues, who featured two oldies as well, Danny Drinkwater in midfield and Technical Director Advisor and Renaissance Man Petr Cech in goal. (No, this doesn’t count as one of the six needed official appearances that would get him to 500 for his Chelsea career.)

A poor pass from Cech gave away a cheap corner, which Spurs converted to take the lead inside of three minutes at Kingsmeadow. The visitors would double that lead barely a quarter hour later, with Cech a bit stranded in no man’s land and Spurs heading in from a very nice cross.

From then on however, the Blues improved in every aspect. A mid-first-half formation change from head coach Andy Myers and a double change at half-time (including Myles Pear-Harris coming on) completely turned things around and Chelsea were back on level terms just past the hour mark. A penalty won by George Nunn, playing wide left after a more central first-half role got Chelsea on the board — Peart-Harris with the cool conversion — then Marcel Lewis was left with a simple finish thanks to an excellent run and cutback from Tino Livramento to make it 2-2 in the 63rd minute.

Then things got really spicy as Spurs youngster Alfie Devine hacked down Drinkwater, who showed none of the maturity one would expect from a man nearly twice Devine’s age (16 vs. 30), and kicked out at the kid before getting involved in some handbags. Emotions flared before cooler heads prevailed, with Cech coming over to play peace-maker as well. Drinkwater and Devine both saw red before the match finally was able to resume.

Now all we needed was a winning goal, and Peart-Harris duly delivered for his second of the night just a couple minutes from time (although there were also six minutes added on thanks to all the earlier drama). Top of the (Premier) league (2), and having a (small) laugh!