Written By Peter Jacobs
Jose Bosingwa took another positive step forward in his recovery from an 11 month injury lay-off when he captained a Chelsea reserve side to a 3-1 victory against Liverpool at Cobham. It was only his second appearance as he continues his comeback from a serious knee injury he sustained in October. The Portuguese right-back looked in confident mood as he caused Liverpool numerous problems on the right wing.
Chelsea started the brighter with Liverpool disorganised in defence and broke the deadlock in the 19th minute. A towering header by 15 year-old Nathaniel Chalobah from the impressive Gokhan Tore corner, bounced into the top corner and the home side deserved their lead.
As the game grew so did Chelsea with the young blues becoming more comfortable in possession with Liverpool struggling to get their passing game into gear. Nine minutes later Chelsea doubled their lead when lively Italian striker Fabio Borini calmly slotted past goalkeeper Martin Hansen from a through ball from Tore down the right channel.
A Nathan Eccleston goal out of nothing gave Liverpool hope going into half time when his powerful effort from the edge of the box took a deflection off Rohan Ince into the net. It came against the run of play and was the first action Chelsea goalkeeper Jan Sebek had seen all match.
After the interval David Amoo had a glorious chance to level the scores when his free header at the back post went wide from only a few yards out. However, any come back was nipped in the bud when substitute Adam Phillips rounded off the scoring in the 77th minute, the goal took the game out of Liverpool’s reach when he fortuitously converted a Borini cross from the right hand side. Chelsea were already playing with 10 men as they had made all their designated substitutes by the second half and Bosingwa was withdrawn for precautionary reasons.
Liverpool’s summer signing Jonjo Shelvey was the only shining light for the away side putting in a combative performance with some strong tackling and a range of passing to go along side his willingness to get forward. It was a disappointing display from John McMahon’s side as they went down to their first defeat of the season.
Steve Holland, the Chelsea reserve manager would have enjoyed an accomplished performance whilst Carlo Ancelotti will welcome the news of another successful outing for Bosingwa although last night’s Champions League clash against Marseille came too soon for him to make his first-team comeback.
Will Bosingwa be able to be a first team regular at Chelsea?
