Pirates rediscover their winning touch against Chelsea youngsters
JOSH Hare’s dramatic late header clinched victory for Bristol Rovers as Tommy Widdrington’s side prevailed 4-3 winners over Chelsea U21s to progress into the next round of the Papa John’s Trophy.
Widdrington’s first game as caretaker manager was action packed and saw the hosts surge into a 2-1 lead after just 15 minutes thanks to goals from Brandon Hanlan and Sam Nicholson.
However, the young Blues put on a resilient display and never accepted defeat, coming back from 3-1 down to level the contest with two minutes to go thanks to second-half goals from Marcel Lewis and Tino Anjorin.
But it was wing-back Josh Hare’s last-minute header that had the decisive say in the matter, meaning Rovers avoided a penalty shoot-out to see who would advance to the next round.
The game started in frantic fashion, with Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour showing his class by dictating the tempo of the game with frequent switches of play and tidy passes. However, it was the hosts who took the lead thanks to a moment of brilliance from Brandon Hanlan. The striker picked up the ball on the halfway line and drove at Chelsea’s disorganised backline, carrying the ball into the area before cutting onto his weaker left foot and smashing the ball into the back of the net.
Rovers’ lead didn’t last long though, within a minute Chelsea levelled the contest, much to the disappointment of Widdrington who didn’t hold back in his reaction to the goal. The visitors’ wideman Tino Livramento passed down the right-flank to Tino Anjorin who found himself in space to motor towards goal before firing low under Jordi Van Stappershoef to equalise for the young Blues.
The manic nature of the game continued as in the 15th minute Rovers took the lead once more through winger Sam Nicholson. James Daly faked a shot on the edge of the box before firing his leftfooted strike straight at Karlo Ziger in the Chelsea goal whose parry fell to the feet of Nicholson who was on hand to follow in and restore the lead.
Hanlan continued to cause problems for the young Chelsea defence, the 23-year-old’s hold up play and power proved too much for the inexperienced back four and he could have given the Gas a two-goal cushion if it wasn’t for a
smart block from skipper Dynel Simeu.
Just before half-time Chelsea had a golden chance to equalise, as Drinkwater showed his experience playing an inch-perfect through ball to the advanced left-back Lawrence, whose cross put the ball on a plate for Charlie Brown, although the young striker somehow missed the ball with the goal at his mercy from a yard out.
Second-half substitute
Zain
Westbrooke’s set-pieces were proving difficult to cope with for Chelsea and the midfielder was finally rewarded for his high levels of consistency on 57 minutes. His freekick from the corner of the box curled beautifully into the far corner of the net to give the hosts a two-goal cushion and put Rovers players at ease.
However, minutes later, Lawrence found space down the left and crossed into the box, the Rovers defence dealt with the first ball, but Marcel Lewis reacted quickest to unleash a thunderous strike into the roof of the net from inside the box to give Chelsea hope.
Chelsea scored once again moments later, as Henry Lawrence had time to size up a shot on the edge of the box, his eventual effort deflected fortunately off Anjorin which deceived Van Stappershoef in the Rovers goal to equalise for Chelsea.
Lewis Bate almost put the visitors ahead as the game neared the fulltime whistle after he fooled the defence before unleashing a stunning effort which crashed against the post.
But just as the sides were gearing up for penalties, Zain Westbrooke mustered up a pinpoint cross from the left flank to Josh Hare who met the ball with a powerful downwards header at the back post to clinch victory in dramatic fashion.