Chelsea’s Under-18s survived the second-half sending off of goalkeeper Bradley Collins to begin their defence of the FA Youth Cup with a 2-0 victory at Leeds United.
Izzy Brown put the Blues in front from the penalty spot midway through a competitive first half, after Tammy Abraham stormed down the right and was upended by Jack Vann.
Both sides had chances, with Leeds’ impressive Robbie McDaid seeing a header go just wide and Chelsea’s Charlie Colkett striking the post from 20 yards.
The momentum seemed to have swung in Leeds’ favour when Collins was dismissed five minutes after the break for bringing down McDaid outside the penalty area.
But Chelsea kept them at bay and, 10 minutes from time, Dominic Solanke – who scored twice in the second leg of last season’s final victory over Fulham – doubled the lead after good work from Kyle Scott.
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This post was last modified on 02/12/2014