The Blues eventually shared the points with Fulham in an entertaining match at Motspur Park, with plenty of good football on show and six goals shared evenly between the two teams.

We initially had to come back from behind in the first half before taking the lead twice ourselves after the break. We were pegged back on both occasions, meaning our lead at the top of the Under-18 Premier League southern table was cut to two points but head coach Hassan Sulaiman insists he remains happy with his team's performance despite not getting the win.

'On a whole it was disappointing because we knew we were the better side and we allowed them to get back into the game, but if you look at the performance we played some really good football,' said Sulaiman.

'If you’re looking at it in terms of development and the league table, everyone wants us to win, but we’re not about winning at all costs. We’re trying to play the right way because development is still at the forefront of our mind.

'It’s a good challenge for the boys as well. This situation brings a bit of pressure, something the boys aren’t always used to, and it's a different type of pressure because we are the team in first now. So I feel really confident about the performance and really pleased with how we played.'

After having a Tyrique George strike ruled out by the officials, we went behind in the first half when goalkeeper Kai Crampton was dispossessed on the edge of his box - eventually being forced off with an injury he picked up in that challenge.

However, George did get his goal shortly before half-time, rounding the keeper after being played in by Reiss Denny, and Sulaiman saw plenty to be pleased with in that first 45 minutes.

'It was a very good game and we had a very good performance. We certainly had a strong first half, but maybe not as strong in the second half. We started the game in really good spirits, we played some very good football and we created some good early chances.

'We were unfortunate not to go ahead with Tyrique's goal, as he was adjudged to be offside. But we had some really good passages of play and spells in possession where we broke them down, made entries into the final third and looked really dangerous.

'Then they scored, against the run of play really. It was a press from their striker and then Kai got caught with a tackle and the ball just trickled over the line in slow motion, so it was 1-0. It was undeserved but so be it, sometimes the game is cruel.

'We got one back through another good passage of play and then went in for half-time at 1-1. We certainly came out for the second half feeling confident. We knew that we were the better team in the first half, we knew that we’d get opportunities to score and we did go 2-1 up.'

It wasn't to be, though. Donnell McNeilly showed good striker's instincts in the box to get his brace and put us ahead twice, although we couldn't hold on to our lead either time, which was the one disappointment from the game for the head coach.

'At 2-1 we didn’t manage the game as we well as we arguably should have done,' he continued. 'We conceded, the game went to 2-2, but then we managed to get another one for 3-2.

'You could argue that we didn’t learn from our mistake when we let them get back into the game at 2-2, and we conceded again.

'At both times when we were winning we had opportunities to take the game away from them, but unfortunately we just couldn’t find that extra goal we needed and it ended 3-3.'

There were other positives for the Blues to take from the game, too. Sulaiman made further changes to his line-up and two schoolboys were given opportunities from the bench, including goalkeeper Jack Austin making his debut at Under-18s level when replacing the injured Crampton.

'Recently, with development in mind, we’ve been chopping and changing, giving people opportunities to play. That’s been the most powerful thing for me – the fact we can still sustain a high level of performance while making a number of changes.

'We’ve been changing four or five players at a time in the last four or five games, so that in itself is a testament to the good work that is going on.'

Hopefully that will continue as Chelsea remain in the race for the Under-18 Premier League southern title in our remaining four fixtures. That starts against Leicester City at Cobham on Saturday, one of our two games in hand and a chance to extend our lead at the top of the table.