Feruz fires Blues into commanding Youth Cup lead

SCOTLAND prospect Islam Feruz struck twice in the second half to give Chelsea a commanding 4-0 first-leg advantage in the FA Youth Cup final last night.

The 16-year-old former Celtic youth player, who next week could become Scotland’s youngest under-21 internationalist, added to first-half goals from Nathaniel Chalobah and Lewis Baker to put Blackburn Rovers to the sword at Stamford Bridge.

Captain Chalobhah gave the Chelsea youngsters the lead midway through the first half, although Jamal Blackman in goal had to continue the excellent form shown he has shown throughout the cup run to keep out Blackburn, who also missed with some good early opportunities. However, once Baker had doubled the advantage to take into the break there was no way back into this leg for the visitors and if the 2-0 score of the first half had flattered Chelsea a little, there was no question about the second-half domination.

The Somalian-born Glaswegian schoolboy Feruz latched on to a pass from Chalobah and produced a composed finish just before the hour mark.

And the centre forward, who has been called into Billy Stark’s Scotland Under-21 squad for the friendly against Italy at Easter Road, added a subtle finish to complete the scoring ten minutes later.

Chelsea youth coach Adi Viveash said: “They were two great finishes from Feruz from two great passes.”

The second leg of the final will be played at Ewood Park on Wednesday 9 May.