Chelmsford City FC – Under 21 – Match Report

Our under-21s suffered a 2-0 defeat against National League South side Chelmsford City at the Melbourne Stadium.

What happened

It took the home side just three minutes to open the scoring. Kai Corbett linked up well with Harry Barbrook down the left as the full-back picked out Taylor Clark, whose first-time effort was placed beyond Jack Porter in our net.

Our no.1 was called into action on several occasions throughout the early phases, denying goal-bound efforts from Corbett and Josh Castiglione to keep our young Gunners in the game.

Max Porter’s side began to see more of the ball after half an hour, with Charles Sagoe-Jnr finding pockets of space in an attempt to ignite our attack. Our first corner of the match arrived shortly after, won by Seb Ferdiand, but the Essex side ensured the short corner drill came to nothing.

Ceadach O’Neill switched wings with Sagoe-Jnr, a tactical decision that almost paid off on 34 minutes, with the latter wiggling free of Kian Ronan down the left flank before firing our first attempt of the game over Chris Haigh’s bar.

Just before half-time, Brayden Clarke worked back well to prevent a Chelmsford counter-attack, throwing his body in front of Clark’s effort, before Porter was alert once more to block the striker’s follow-up attempt.

We continued to grow into the affair after the interval, as Ife Ibrhaim commanded from the middle of the park, threading the ball through Chelmsford’s lines to find Sagoe-Jnr in a series of promising areas.

Lucas Nygaard, who replaced Porter in goal at half-time, did well to settle in time to palm clear a powerful shot from Hedges. The ‘keeper tipped the Chelmsford player’s effort over his upright to keep the tie at 1-0.

We almost levelled on 56 minutes as Demiane Agustien’s effort bounced off the post and onto the back of a diving Haigh. The summer signing from Derby County came close again 10 minutes later, freeing himself from Chelsmford’s defence to strike an attempt just shy of the post.

But the hosts settled the contest on 70 minutes as Jack Barham pounced on Theo Julienne’s short back pass to Nygaard to double their advantage.

What’s Next

Our young Gunners will return for their final pre-season game on Saturday, August 9, as they travel overseas to AS Monaco Performance Centre to take on Monaco II. Kick-off is scheduled for 2pm (UK time).

Team News

Chelmsford City: Haigh, Ronan (Trialist A 83), Barbrook, Grimwood, Longe-King, Castiglione (Kudiabor 55), Odusanya (Ward 83), Hedges (Remy 60), Clark (Tamplin 60), Corbett (Murphy 83), Barham.

Subs not used: Eastwood, Lapslie, Tompkins.

Arsenal: Porter (Nygaard 45), Ferdinand (Julienne 60), Washington (Ismail 77), Clarke, Sweet, Ibrahim (Hashi 71), O’Neill (Trialist A 60), Dudziak, Zecevic-John (Thompson 77), Agustien, Sagoe-Jnr.

Subs not used: Stachlow, Murisa, Oyetunde