Lewis: "The second half was one of the best footballing displays of the season"

Stuart Lewis has spoken of his pride following his side's thrilling 3-3 draw with Chelsea at Cobham on Saturday.

Lewis' side raced into a two-goal lead thanks to a swashbuckling opening 30 minute spell, with Reiss Elliott-Parris bagging a brace.

The Blues struck back to lead 3-2 before the interval, but a dominant second half display saw us have two goals ruled out for offside as well as having a strong penalty claim waved away, before Ellis Lehane headed home to secure a point.

Harry Byrne had a chance to win it late on from a set-piece, but forced a very strong save from Hudson Sands in the Chelsea goal.

Reflecting on his side's third draw of the season, Lewis said: "I'm super proud of the effort, determination and the character of the team - I thought we showed what we're about today, as a group, as individuals and as a collective.

"Obviously we started really well, it was excellent to get two goals up, and then we're a young team with many first years and some school boys, and we had a we had a tough moment, but we came through that.

"I thought the second half was one of the best footballing displays of the season, and we could have quite easily gone on to win the game.

"We showed our performance levels and how we train and that's how we prepared for the game, I thought that was really evident in that second 45 and I'm really proud of that performance today."

Reiss Elliott-Parris opened the scoring five minutes in with a close range finish, and bagged a brace inside the opening half an hour after linking up with Dexter Oliver on the left wing, less than 24 hours after making debut for the Under-21s, something Lewis believes he thoroughly deserves: "I thought he had a big opportunity yesterday and did really well.

"He's been great in his all around play and I thought in his cameo for the Under-21s was excellent, and he deserved those two goals today.

"He's done really well in his scholarship so far, and I'm really, really pleased for him - he deserves those two goals."

A really tough spell followed for the young side, with Chelsea coming from behind to lead 3-2 at the break, something Lewis had to tackle at half-time:"I think it was probably was a bit of learning how to manage these moments.

But then I thought we could have been braver and showed more personality with a ball as well and we did that in the second half.

"That was my big message at halftime, both with and without the ball and I thought with the ball we could have been better.

Then in the second half, we definitely did that and we dominated the ball, had large spells in possession, and that nullified their threat, which we know they have got.

"I loved the personality and the bravery in the second half, and I thought that that then equated to some chances in the final third, and I thought we could have won it."

Ellis Lehane headed us level just eight minutes after coming on as a substitute, notching his first league goal since September in a spell which included a short injury break, which was just what Lewis was looking for: "It was brilliant and I think he that's the reaction we want from from Ellis.

"He's shown at this level that he can score goals, and I was really proud for him and pleased for him that he came on and got that goal.

"It was really, really brave header, and there's good competition between players now which is what we want going into a big game on in the FA Youth Cup."

Another positive for the side is the return of Dylan Thompson, who has overcome injury to start between the sticks for the first time this season: "Yeah, obviously, Dylan had a tough start to his scholarship, but did brilliantly off the pitch." said Lewis.

"He was in all our analysis meetings in and around the club, I was really pleased for him today to be a part of an outstanding team performance.

"He's made a big save at the end there and showed great concentration, the way the boys celebrated that with him shows what a great person he is, and he's really settled in with the club."

The game saw several big decisions throughout, conceding a penalty at one end before having a their own claims for a clear handball waved away, before having two goals ruled out for contentious offside decisions, but Lewis took the positives that his side deserved to win the game: "I think there's definitely the feeling we could and maybe should've won the game now.

"Obviously, to come back and get back into the game to 3-3 was is a massive positive to take and then there were some opportunities to go on to win the game.

"I think there was a clear penalty and clear goal that was ruled offside, but that's football, that's going to happen.

But I think the big, most pleasing thing for us as a coaching staff was the performance levels and the energy levels, the physical levels, and the way we performed on the ball in the second half is what we're all about as an academy."