Chelsea's development squad have now lost three games on the bounce, adding to the defeats against Crystal Palace and Manchester City in recent weeks.

With just over five minutes played tonight at Stevenage, we conceded the first goal of the game when Lucas Moura found the net with a heavily deflected free-kick.

Romaine Mundle doubled their lead 10 minutes later and it was a fine finish into the top corner, giving Gaga Slonina no chance.

Mason Burstow was at the heart of our chances in the first period and his best one was a strike from range which came back off the crossbar.

The game was getting away from our young Blues and Spurs grabbed their third early in the second half as Yago Santiago had the easy job of tapping into an empty net after good work from Alfie Devine.

Dylan Williams’ deflected effort flew past Tottenham goalkeeper Josh Keeley as we grabbed a goal back.

Six minutes later, we scored our second of the game and it came through Burstow who climbed highest to turn in from a corner.

We tried to intensify the pressure near the end as we searched for an equaliser but the home side stood strong as they preserved their lead to give themselves the victory.

Unfortunate start

The home side took the lead in the most unfortunate of circumstances as Moura struck from a free-kick, but a massive deflection wrong-footed Slonina in goal giving the team in white the early lead.

We reacted instantly and maintained good pressure to keep our opponents penned back following the young Spurs’ goal. Burstow came the closest to levelling the scoreline as he unleashed a shot just outside the penalty area, but it was dragged wide.

Despite this pressure, the lead was doubled by Tottenham.

A lapse in concentration at the back which saw Lewis Hall dispossessed allowed Mundle to be played in on goal and the forward composed himself well to finish into the top far corner of the net.

Good response

Our reaction to conceding was positive and once again it was Burstow who had the chance to score, as the striker did well to create a yard for himself and from distance, he smashed a shot against the crossbar with the goalkeeper rooted.

He followed up that effort with a header that just went over the bar after a teasing cross from Brodi Hughes.

Slonina had to stay sharp to prevent the young Blues from conceding again when he made a good stop to keep out Alfie Dorrington.

We came out for the second half with intent and a fine move that involved Hall, Ben Elliott and Harvey Vale ended with Leo Castledine pulling his shot wide inside the penalty box.

Spurs were just proving to be the more clinical side this evening and they scored their third of the game as unselfish play from Devine after rounding the keeper, gave Santiago a tap-in.

Chelsea were still pushing and Omari Hutchinson went close when he was found in the box by Elliott but he could not keep his effort down as it flew over.

Santiago had a chance to give his side a fourth and after beating the keeper with his shot, it was second-half substitute Zak Sturge who was well-placed on the line to clear.

Tense end

We got one goal back through Williams, as he found himself in an attacking area and struck from distance, finding the net with the aid of a heavy deflection.

Our development squad ensured it was a tense last couple of minutes for the home side as a Webster corner found the head of Burstow at the back post, and we were now only one goal behind our opponents.

The game would end 3-2 however, as we left it too late to complete our comeback.

We end our 2022/23 PL2 season on Friday 28 April 2023 against Brighton Hove & Albion in a 7pm kick-off at Kingsmeadow.

Chelsea (3-4-3): Gabriel Slonina; Brodie Hughes, Alfie Gilchrist (c), Lewis Hall (Malik Mothersille 69); Dion Rankine, Charlie Webster, Ben Elliott, Harvey Vale (Dylan Williams 70); Leo Castledine (Jimi Tauriainen 74), Omari Hutchinson (Zak Sturge 70), Mason Burstow.

Unused subs: Max Merrick.

Booked: Omari Hutchinson 61; Zak Sturge 87.

Scorers: Dylan Williams 78; Mason Burstow 84.

Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1): Josh Keeley; Max Robson, Brooklyn Lyons-Foster (Jamie Bowden 82), Alfie Dorrington, George Abbott (Charlie Sayers 82), Jamie Donley, Matthew Craig, Romaine Mundle, Alfie Devine (Nile John 56), Lucas Moura (Jaden Williams 67), Yago Santiago.

Unused subs: Aaron Maguire.

Booked: Alfie Dorrington 19

Scorers: Lucas Moura 6; Romaine Mundle 16, Yago Alonso 53