Chelsea's second string were victorious in an entertaining friendly against Charlton at Cobham on Wednesday, but are left counting the cost after a serious injury to defender Carl Magnay.
The defender's knee gave way shortly into the second half with nobody around him, and the prognosis is not good.
Coach Steve Holland was understandably concerned following the 3-2 win over the Addicks, in which Jacob Mellis scored our first and Fabio Borini notched twice.
'Carl's injury is a bit of a disaster I'm afraid,' Holland said. 'We are still awaiting results of the scans but the early assessment is that he has damaged his anterior cruciate ligament, and that there is damage to the medial collateral ligament, and an issue with a cracked kneecap also, so that's a really nasty injury.'
There was some good news though, as 17-year-old forward Philipp Prosenik returned to action after a lengthy layoff.
'That was Philipp's first game back after four months out injured, and that was a reward for all the effort he's put in,' Holland explained. 'He's had a tough first season in England which is very difficult for him, but again he did well.'
As for the game itself, 'we were better in the second half than the first, made a bad mistake for the first goal but then got back in with a good equaliser,' assessed the coach. 'We've been on to Jacob Mellis about his end product and he did well and continues his improvement and worked very hard.
'We really got hold of the game and started to wear them out with our passing and made a lot of chances in the second half and had a fairly comfortable win. Also, it was good to see Fabio get a couple of goals as well.'
Borini was denied in the opening exchanges by some smart goalkeeping, before Charlton took an early lead after our own stopper Jan Sebek was dispossessed when trying to deal with a backpass, the visiting forward having the simplest of tasks to tap home.
Mellis quickly restored parity though with a smart left-footed finish following a Chelsea counter-attack.
Borini had another ruled out for offside and Daniel Philliskirk went close, but Charlton went ahead again with a close range finish moments after Sebek had pulled off an excellent one-on-one save.
Holland was unimpressed with his side's defending and made his point clear, no doubt reinforcing the message at half-time.
Shortly into the second period centre-half Magnay was struck down by injury, crumpling in a heap with nobody around him and requiring a stretcher.
He was replaced by schoolboy Nathaniel Chalobah who slotted into central midfield, captain Liam Bridcutt (pictured) dropping deeper into defence.
Mellis almost notched an equaliser after Borini had laid off inside the area, Nana Ofori-Twumasi doing well to pick the forward out with his right-sided cross.
A heavy challenge on Nemanja Matic should have given the Blues a penalty, but a minute later they levelled anyway, when Borini cut inside and fired hard across the goalkeeper and into the top corner from outside the area.
The Italian then put his side in front with a tidy finish through the goalkeeper's legs after some slick build-up play.
At the other end Sebek made another reflex save after a casual clearance had allowed Charlton to press, before sub Prosenik worked the away keeper with a curling shot.
Charlton manager Phil Parkinson was watching from the sidelines, and chatted for a period with Chelsea coaches Ray Wilkins and Paul Clement, who were monitoring the performances of the young Blues.
The defender's knee gave way shortly into the second half with nobody around him, and the prognosis is not good.
Coach Steve Holland was understandably concerned following the 3-2 win over the Addicks, in which Jacob Mellis scored our first and Fabio Borini notched twice.
'Carl's injury is a bit of a disaster I'm afraid,' Holland said. 'We are still awaiting results of the scans but the early assessment is that he has damaged his anterior cruciate ligament, and that there is damage to the medial collateral ligament, and an issue with a cracked kneecap also, so that's a really nasty injury.'
There was some good news though, as 17-year-old forward Philipp Prosenik returned to action after a lengthy layoff.
'That was Philipp's first game back after four months out injured, and that was a reward for all the effort he's put in,' Holland explained. 'He's had a tough first season in England which is very difficult for him, but again he did well.'
As for the game itself, 'we were better in the second half than the first, made a bad mistake for the first goal but then got back in with a good equaliser,' assessed the coach. 'We've been on to Jacob Mellis about his end product and he did well and continues his improvement and worked very hard.
'We really got hold of the game and started to wear them out with our passing and made a lot of chances in the second half and had a fairly comfortable win. Also, it was good to see Fabio get a couple of goals as well.'
Borini was denied in the opening exchanges by some smart goalkeeping, before Charlton took an early lead after our own stopper Jan Sebek was dispossessed when trying to deal with a backpass, the visiting forward having the simplest of tasks to tap home.
Mellis quickly restored parity though with a smart left-footed finish following a Chelsea counter-attack.
Borini had another ruled out for offside and Daniel Philliskirk went close, but Charlton went ahead again with a close range finish moments after Sebek had pulled off an excellent one-on-one save.
Holland was unimpressed with his side's defending and made his point clear, no doubt reinforcing the message at half-time.
Shortly into the second period centre-half Magnay was struck down by injury, crumpling in a heap with nobody around him and requiring a stretcher.
He was replaced by schoolboy Nathaniel Chalobah who slotted into central midfield, captain Liam Bridcutt (pictured) dropping deeper into defence.
Mellis almost notched an equaliser after Borini had laid off inside the area, Nana Ofori-Twumasi doing well to pick the forward out with his right-sided cross.
A heavy challenge on Nemanja Matic should have given the Blues a penalty, but a minute later they levelled anyway, when Borini cut inside and fired hard across the goalkeeper and into the top corner from outside the area.
The Italian then put his side in front with a tidy finish through the goalkeeper's legs after some slick build-up play.
At the other end Sebek made another reflex save after a casual clearance had allowed Charlton to press, before sub Prosenik worked the away keeper with a curling shot.
Charlton manager Phil Parkinson was watching from the sidelines, and chatted for a period with Chelsea coaches Ray Wilkins and Paul Clement, who were monitoring the performances of the young Blues.
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