Chelsea 3
Dundee Utd 0
Friendly (Guiness Challenge Cup)

Match Report

Chelsea were our next opponents and the venue was again the picturesque Swanguard Stadium. For the most difficult match of the round robin tournament coach Paul Sturrock found himself having to rely on a youthful combination.

Due to knocks, Freddy Van der Hoorn, Dave Narey and the two South Americans were unable to start the match. By and large the Tannadice youngsters coped well in the early stages, but there was always the aerial threat Kerry Dixon and former Celt Tony Cascarino.

Chelsea fired a warning of things to come when Andy Townsend crashed a 20 yarder against the base of the post on the stroke of half-time.

Paddy Connolly went close early in the second half, when he side footed an Allan Preston cross wide of the target. The Stamford Bridge side again struck the woodwork when Paul Elliot's header was diverted on to the bar by Sinclair and that aerial threat finally paid off when Cascarino nodded home a Wise cross after 66 minutes.

Ten minutes from time Vinny Jones rocketed home a second goal following Stuart's knock down. Two minutes from the end Kerry Dixon converted a Stuart cross to score a third. The competitive edge to any Anglo/Scot confrontation lead to three bookings — Paddy Connolly of United and Denis Wise and surprise, surprise, Vinny Jones of Chelsea.

Of our starting eleven, only John Clark was aged over 24 and pitched against a virtually full strength Chelsea, we found the going tough. "We had to play more youngsters than I would have liked, but it was a very useful lesson for our youngsters against a very strong and professional Chelsea side", reflected coach Paul Sturrock.