Harvey St Clair’s strike was enough to see the Blues leapfrog West Ham in the PL2 table as Chelsea won 1-0 at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.
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Joe Edwards’ side left East London with a 1-0 victory against rivals West Ham United. In what was an edgy affair, the net was found only once as St Clair broke the deadlock in the 19th minute.
West Ham keeper Nathan Trott will be frustrated with his role in the goal. A poor goal kick trickled straight to the creative Kyle Scott who played in St Clair to hammer low into the bottom left corner.
The Hammers got the ball in good positions in the opening stages of the game, however lacked precision in the final third.
Decisive
The first chance of the game fell to Joseph Colley as the young Chelsea centre-half clipped the top of the bar with a curling effort as West Ham failed to clear from a corner.
West Ham were the better team following the goal and Chelsea stopper Marcin Bulka was tested after a Josh Pask strike was deflected on target.
The young Hammers continued to push for an equaliser, and found joy down the flank with the pacey partnership of Ben Johnson and Grady Diangana. It was the right winger, Diangana, who found Oladapo Afolayan just before half-time, but the forward’s shot was matched by Bulka.
Terry Westley’s half-time team talk had clearly fired up his West Ham side for the second half. The referee Christopher O’Donnell was forced to caution Ben Johnson for a late challenge on goal-scorer St Clarir as tackles began to get out of hand.
Let Off
The game began to enter a dry spell as the Irons failed to penetrate Chelsea’s defence. The away side almost capitalised on another defensive mistake as Luke McCormick raced through towards goal following a lose pass. However Martell Taylor-Crossdale failed to check his run and was clearly offside when he turned home McCormick’s squared ball.
Trott did well to keep his side in the game as substitute Reece James raced forward on the counter and forced a good save from the keeper. Following the save, the ball rebounded of team-mate Tunji Akinola and looped onto the bar before Trott punched to safety.
Pressure
Fresh legs were brought on to try and change the game and it was West Ham’s substitute Jahmal Hector-Ingram who nearly made the difference. The forward’s strike dribbled across the surface and clipped the outside of the post.
An onslaught of whipped crosses into the Chelsea box failed to meet a West Ham player and the closing 15 minutes saw both teams smash the ball in hope.
One cross did meet the head of Marcus Browne, but the midfielder did well to even hit the side netting of Bulka’s goal, as the ball came at him with speed.
Despite the effort of West Ham, Chelsea managed to hang on to gain the victory and go above the home side in the standings.