Chelsea Under-21s travelled north to York for our Premier League Cup quarter-final against Leeds United, hoping to keep our pursuit of silverware on two fronts going into the closing stages of the season.

We raced into a two-goal lead with Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Donnell McNeilly finding the net just two minutes apart, but were then hit by a pair Leeds goals almost as quick.

Zak Sturge’s strike early in the second half eventually gave us a lead the home side couldn’t recover from, but it did require an impressive late double-save from Ted Sharman-Lowe to finally make the win safe.

Frantic first half

The momentum shifted repeatedly in this entertaining knockout tie, initially falling Chelsea’s way when the match sprang into life around the 20-minute mark.

That was when we took the lead, a nice move ending with Leo Castledine crossing low from the right touchline. Credit also goes to Zain Silcott-Duberry, whose clever dummy allowed the ball to find it’s way to Jimmy-Jay Morgan on the penalty spot, where the striker smashed his shot into the roof of the net.

Almost immediately, it was 2-0. Castledine was central again, receiving the ball inside his own half and spotting the chance to counter. He charged forward to the edge of the Leeds box before laying it off for Donnell McNeilly to turn inside his man and place a finish into the bottom corner.

Leeds responded quickly, though, and pulled one back when Alfie Cresswell rose highest at a corner and headed in from six yards out. Less than three minutes later the home side were level, when a low cross from the right fell loose in the box and Joe Snowdon was able to finish low past Ted Sharman-Lowe.

Decisive goal arrives

It was the visitors who took the initiative at the start of the second half, though, and we soon retook our lead through fine work from Zak Sturge. He managed to latch on to Dylan Williams’ long ball up the left after Leeds failed to intercept, beat his man confidently to break into the box and fired low across goal into the bottom corner.

Chelsea had further chances to extend our advantage and deny Leeds another route back into the game, but we weren’t able to take them and could have been punished right at the end.

A bizarre finish to the match, when an injury to the linesman resulted in a long delay, required the Blues to hold on through 10 added minutes. In the very last of those, Sharman-Lowe saved a low drive through the bodies in the box, but could only parry back into a dangerous area. However, the keeper did brilliantly to recover quickly and fly across his goal to push the follow-up shot away, sealing our progress into the last four.

What is next

It is back to Premier League 2 action with another away trip next for our Under-21s, when we take on Aston Villa on Monday 8 April, with kick-off at 6pm.

The teams

Chelsea (3-4-1-2): Ted Sharman-Lowe; Brodi Hughes, Billy Gee (c), Dylan Williams; Zain Silcott-Duberry (Frankie Runham 74), Kiano Dyer, Michael Golding (Reiss Denny 73), Zak Sturge (Ishe Samuels-Smith 82); Leo Castledine; Donnell McNeilly (Tyrique George 73), Jimmy-Jay Morgan
Unused sub: Max Merrick
Scorers: Morgan 19, McNeilly 21, Sturge 52

Leeds United (4-2-3-1): Harry Christy, Alfie Cresswell, Daniel Toulson, Rhys Chadwick (Morten Spencer 86), Reuben Lopata-White (Diogo Monteiro 63), James Debayo (Kris Moore h-t), Joseph Richards, Cian Coleman, Luca Thomas, Sam Chambers (Charlie Allen h-t), Joe Snowdon
Unused sub: Dani van den Heuvel
Scorers: Cresswell 26, Snowdon 29
Booked: Chadwick 46