By Since66
February 1 2009
With a reserve game on the horizon against Tottingham on Monday night and the FA Youth Cup tie in Scouseland on Thursday night, Chelsea fielded a relatively young side at Norwich's Colney training ground yesterday morning. There were four sixteen year olds in the Academy line-up.
Although disappointed with the defeat, acting coach Dermot Drummy said, "It was a good performance, and they showed an improvement in attitude and spirit. "At half-time we knew we would be going into a strong wind, so we didn't want to try and play out too much, but that's what happened and we got caught. They are learning but it is quite costly." As long as these boys learn from their mistakes that is all you can ask of them. On Thursday's trip to Anfield, Drummy said "We haven't got the team until Tuesday because of the reserve game on Monday against Tottingham, so we're missing a few more experienced players at the moment. "We will start preparing properly on Tuesday and we have to hope the lads stay injury free. "Today we had four 16-year-olds on the pitch, which is fantastic for development, but it does make it difficult." The Academy took the lead in first-half injury time when Marko Mitrovic headed home from close range. The lead didn't last long as two minutes into the second-half, Norwich equalised through Lathorpe from a free-kick. Norwich took the lead a few minutes later when Davey crashed home a shot in-off the underside of the bar, then fourteen minutes from time Mitrovic equalised for the Academy. Unfortunately for the Academy, Norwich won the game on 83 minutes when Adeyemi scored with a shot that beat the diving Jan Sebek into the far corner. Norwich City: Rudd, Francomb, Brindley (Lathorpe 23), Omoregie, Dumic, Stephens, Davey, Adeyemi, Kelly, Smith, Daley (Dawkin 65). Chelsea: Jan Sebek, Nikki Ahamed, Rohan Ince, Tom Hayden, Jordan Tabor, Daniel Philliskirk (c), Conor Clifford, Jacopo Sala, Adam Phillip, Marko Mitrovic, Milan Lalkovic. 
