City Goalscorer - Andrew Fisk

David Williams saw his side make an early exit from this season's F.A. Youth Cup competition when Chelsea ran out 2-1 winners after extra-time at Carrow Road on Monday night. With the teams evenly poised at 1-1, it was a decision by referee Mr. McCaul just five minutes into extra time that was to decide the tie when he pointed to the spot after City captain Rossi Jarvis was harshly adjudged to have handled the ball on the edge of the area. Clearly it was a case of hand to ball and to rub salt into the wound, it did appear to many that Jarvis was just outside the area. Scott Sinclair converted the spot kick for the visitors who were clearly relieved, as it did seem that with both defences on top the tie would have to be decided with a penalty shoot-out. Despite the disappointment of going out of the competition, City gave a very good account of themselves with some eye-catching performances, not least of all from Michael Spillane who along with Adam Gusterson kept that Blues attack under wraps. The game got off to the best possible start for The Canaries when they took the lead on twelve minutes when Andrew Fisk finished a great move started by Patrick Bexfield with a shot from twenty yards.

City's joy was short lived however when on eighteen minutes they sat back and allowed Harry Worley to run half the length of the pitch before beating keeper Joe Lewis with a 25-yard thunderbolt. The visitors it has to be said had the majority of the play in the first-half, but with City defending stoutly Lewis was not troubled again before the break. Chelsea continued to take the game to Norwich after the break and it needed a great tackle by Bexfield to deny Dean Furman a good shooting opportunity. It was however not all one-way traffic as Chris Martin forced Nick Hamann in the visitors' goal into a save, while Bally Smart, who had something of a quiet game, blasted over the bar after he made a good opening. The visitors might have sewn the game up in the dying seconds of normal time but Lewis was on hand to parry a shot from Sinclair over the bar. The game then moved into 30 minutes of extra-time with Sinclair scoring from the spot to give Chelsea the lead for the first time in the game. David Williams introduced Luke Daley into attack and that almost paid dividends when the City schoolboy saw a tremendous turn and shot parried away by Hamann. In a last desperate bid to take the game into a penalty shoot-out, Williams introduced keeper Steven Arnold and threw Lewis into attack, a move that caused mayhem in the Chelsea defence with the City keeper-turned-striker winning a couple of balls in the air, but they didn't fall kindly for City and Chelsea were clearly relieved to hear the final whistle. City Line-Up: Lewis, Thrale [Cave-Brown 54], Bexfield [Arnold 111], Spillane, Gusterson, Jarvis, Muddel, Fisk, El Ouargui, Martin, Smart [Daley 105]. Subs Not Used: Miller, Eames. Top Canary: Michael Spillane. Attendance: 1316 Report courtesy of John Landamore.