Chelsea U18 0-3 Fulham U18

Fulham Under-18s came out three goals to the good against Chelsea to crown them Under 18 Premier League South champions for the second year running.

A first-half finish from Jay Stansfield was complemented by two second-half strikes from Mika Biereth and Luke Harris respectively to hand us the title.

The Young Whites came into the game on the back of an eight-game winning streak dating back to February, knowing that three points would clinch them the league title, with a far superior goal difference over Crystal Palace meaning equaling their points total would be enough.

There was one change from last-time-out for Steve Wigley’s side, as talisman Stansfield came in for Harris to start in a game where goals were the necessity.

Fulham started strong in the bright yellow strip and only took a few minutes to fashion a half decent chance. Ollie O’Niell found space high up the field on the left and fired a cross in towards Stansfield, but the Chelsea ‘keeper was there to cut it out.

Chelsea showed some attacking threat of their own soon after. A slide rule pass slotted through Dion Rankine down the left, requiring a terrific last-second slide tackle from Luciano D’Auria-Henry to clear the danger. Harvey Vale went close from the resulting corner, but his shot squirmed just wide.

The Young Whites started to get a hold on the game now, with flashes of quality from Mika Biereth opening the blue door. First, the young winger showed his speed and strength to latch onto D’Auria-Henry’s ping and race through before his effort was blocked, then turning into provider for Stansfield. After bringing the ball down with class, his poke forward was looking tasty for our forward, but he was shut out at the crucial time.

After 21 minutes we did make the breakthrough through the lively Stansfield. Biereth again showed why he had been so pivotal to the side this campaign, cheekily flicking on Adrion Pajaziti’s header towards our striker who fired into the roof of the net from close range to give us the advantage.

Chelsea then spent a long time camped out in their own half under firm Fulham pressure, but did have speed on the counter-attack. 10 minutes before the interval Rankine was at it again, pinching the ball on the halfway line before driving forward and laying it off to Bashir Humphreys, but his speculative effort from the edge of the box soared well over.

Fulham ended the half as they started, on the front foot. A couple of long-range efforts were conjured up in the search for a second from Pajaziti and O’Niell, but neither were quite on target and we went into the break one to the good.

With the score line still tight, Chelsea started the second half aiming to change things up. A few minutes after the restart, Joe Haigh went close to pulling off an audacious flick at the near post from a corner, but thankfully for us it ended up on the roof of Alex Borto’s net.

We were straight down the other end moments later with a guilt-edged chance to provide some sort of cushion and make it two. Biereth again found space down the right and powered past his man before squaring towards Pajaziti, who cannoned a shot off the crossbar from 12-yards letting the Blues off the hook.

There was space opening up in abundance for both sides as the game was stretched now, and Kieran Bowie was the latest to go close in the 55^th minute, seeing his shot saved at the front post by Lucas Bergstrom in the Chelsea net.

A Chelsea storm cast over the next period of the game in a role reversal of the first half, and Fulham did well to weather it.

Alex Borto had to be on full alert as Haigh got another shot off from the edge of the box, leaping like a salmon to avert the danger and push wide at the top left.

It was Fulham who were doing the counter-attacking now, and had another massive chance to make things more comfortable after 64 minutes. Biereth danced his way through and almost managed to set-up Pajaziti if not for a vital sliding clearance from a Chelsea boot, but it only went as far as Stansfield on the follow up who would’ve been disappointed to see his half-volley head over.

This didn’t matter so much a couple minutes later though, as Biereth did provide a second. A bullish run through the middle was too much for the Blues’ defenders to handle, and after getting one-on-one with the keeper, the finish was provided with a cool slot home.

The tide had well and truly turned now, and it didn’t take long for a third goal to be added to the Fulham tally. Biereth was the key cog again in another quick break, and his square ball was calmly put away by substitute Harris to put the game to bed, one hand now on the trophy.

In the end the contest was closed out in a professional manner epitomising the hard work over the whole season, and Fulham retained their Under 18 Premier League South crown.