This he did. There was no Rhys Taylor, Stoch, Kakuta, Heimann and the like. Clement gave full debuts to schoolboys, Goalkeeper Aldi Haxhia and full-back Tom Hayden.

We at 'The Shed End' would like to take this opportunity to wish these two young men all the very best in their Chelsea careers.

As for the game itself. Cardiff took the lead after five minutes when debutant Hayden allowed his marker to slip in from a Cardiff corner and head past Haxhia.

In the space of a few minutes, seven minutes from half-time Chelsea not only equalised but took the lead. Firstly after a fine run down the left from Nouble, Mellis finished at the back post. Chelsea's 2nd came from Mellis again when he was put through the middle by a fine ball from Jack Saville.

Cardiff's equaliser came in closing moments of the first-half when debutant Haxhia brought down the Cardiff centre-forward and the penalty was duly converted.

After the game which finished 2-2, Paul Clement said, "After Cardiff scored early on, we controlled possession well but failed to make any really good chances. There was a period when neither side did much in the attacking third before the three goals came."

"In the second-half, we have tried to push on and win the game and played very well for 15 minutes, creating some chances that weren't converted. Cardiff got back in it a bit but we came strong at the end. By then they were defending in numbers for the draw and we couldn't break through."

Aldi Haxhia, Tom Hayden, Nana Ofori-Twumasi (c) (Nikki Ahamed 65), Jack Saville, Jordan Tabor (Ben Gordon 65), Tom Taiwo, Jacob Mellis (Jordan Hibbert 65), Daniel Philliskirk, Adam Phillip, Fabio Borini, Frank Nouble.

On Wednesday as already mentioned the 2nd leg of the FA Youth Cup takes place at the City of Manchester Stadium, kick off 7.45pm. Sky Sports will be covering the game LIVE and despite the problems this site received two weeks ago, we will provide all the news, scores and scorers and updates as the evening progresses and hopefully the Chelsea Academy will bring the FA Youth Cup back to Stamford Bridge for the first time in 47 years.

The reserves were in action last night away to Tottenham Hotspur at Leyton Orient FC, and won 3-0. Franco Di Santo scored a hat-trick and the team included Sidwell, Ben Haim and Paulo Ferriera. More to follow.