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For the second week running Norwich were denied a result on the road when with the ninety minutes on the clock a low cross from the left took a wicked deflection off the boot of Francomb and looped over Steer and into the far corner of the Norwich net for a Chelsea winner. Chelsea, who forty eight hours earlier secured a FA Youth Cup semi-final berth at the expense of Watford, came up against a determined Norwich side who from the outset took the game to their hosts under the glowing Cobham floodlights. The game flowed from one end of the field to the other, with Norwich unable to open up Chelsea early in the match. Chelsea created a couple of chances, the first on nine minutes as Rodgers miscued over the Norwich crossbar. On thirty minutes Steer made a sound save from Mitrovic, but it was Chelsea who finally opened the scoring just two minutes later when Strickland sent down an inviting through ball for Devyne who side-stepped the Norwich defence to shoot past Steer from around eighteen yards. Norwich marshalled their defence well with Danny Kelly continuing in the backline. City survived a corner on the stroke of half-time which caused mayhem in the Norwich penalty area, but they managed to clear the danger which left Saville flat out on the turf. Norwich then came out for the second half and showed a different approach. Ball continued to perform with his midfield role and showed signs of further development. On forty seven minutes Gordon from the left, got in a pass to Oakley who shot wide. On fifty four minutes Ball had a goal ruled out for being in an offside position after following up a parry from Heimann. Fifty five minutes and a free kick wide right of the Norwich penalty area, taken by Saville, just flew pass Steer's right hand post. On seventy three minutes a corner by Rodgers was met at the far post by substitute Chalobah and his downward header went just inches wide. With fifteen minutes remaining and Nowich making substitutions, Danny Kelly reverted to his customary forward role and Norwich were now making further inroads on Chelsea and applying pressure. Norwich, on eighty two minutes, were awarded a direct free-kick just outside the Chelsea penalty area and Francomb stepped up to shoot just pass Heimann's left post. The determination from Norwich was now paramount and they fully deserved their equaliser on eighty three minutes. With the evening frost descending on Cobham, Osemwegie attacked from the left flank and delivered a perfect cross into the Chelsea penalty area out of arms reach of Heimann, for Sam Kelly to head the ball in off the underside of the crossbar. On eighty seven minutes Dawkin took on Sampayo on the left, passed him, got inside the penalty area and made room for a shot which Heimann managed to grasp low down. With one Chelsea final assault, just seconds past the ninety minutes, Deen-Conteh paced along the left wing, whipped the ball inside the Norwich penalty area and Norwich defenders were left with heads in their hands after Francomb’s deflection. A true picture of dismay as the ball ended up in the net with no time to repair the damage. City Line-Up: Steer, Francomb, Gordon, Ball, D. Kelly, D. Stephens, Clarke (74. Jones), Osemwegie, Drmola, Dawkin, Oakley (65 S. Kelly). Subs Not Used: Luza, Cousins, Clunan. Top Canary: Matthew Ball. |
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Report courtesy of Rob Maynard. |