Match report: Arsenal U-23s 3-1 Chelsea

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WHAT HAPPENED

We came back from a goal down to beat Chelsea 3-1 on a night that saw two exceptional strikes at Meadow Park on Friday.

Mazeed Ogungbo and Alex Kirk, fresh from the first-team training camp in Dubai, started at the back and had to be alert right from the off, as the visitors started brightly and piled on the pressure early on.

Hubert Graczyk was forced into a number of impressive saves to keep the scores level, but could do nothing to stop Jayden Wareham from giving Chelsea the lead midway through the first half. 

We equalised minutes later through Zach Awe's instinctive header after a short corner routine ended up at the feet of Zak Swanson, who picked out our defender with a menacing cross into the box.

The pattern of the game changed as we started to assert our dominance in midfield, with Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand unlocking the Blues' defence with a ball to Reuell Walters, whose low cross found Mika Biereth in the box, but our striker could only drag his shot wide on the turn.

The away side started the second half brightly and should have taken the lead, but for a barely believable miss by Lewis Hall, who somehow blazed over from two yards out, much to the bemusement of the Meadow Park crowd.

We made the visitors pay for that glaring miss m after a moment of brilliance from Salah-Eddine, who found space for himself on the edge of the box with a tricky roulette turn, before firing across Lucas Bergstrom into the bottom corner.

Omari Hutchinson made sure of the win with his very own Goal of the Season contender minutes before full time, picking up the ball in our own half, driving past numerous challenges and rifling low beyond the helpless Bergstrom.