CHELSEA academy player Armando Broja shone for the Baby Blues on Wednesday night by scoring a hat-trick against Huddersfield Town.
The 18-year-old forward’s heroics secured a safe passage into the FA Youth Cup – a tournament they have dominated – fourth round for Ed Brand’s side.
Broja needed less than a minute – 58 seconds to be exact – to open his account at Kingsmeadow after he connected with Tino Livramento’s defence-splitting pass.
He then assisted Myles Peart-Harris for Chelsea’s second.
And Slough-born Albanian Broja was busy again in the second half, netting his second from close range following Ian Maatsen’s cross.
Then he drove home with his left foot to complete the hat-trick just before being subbed off in the 4-0 rout.
Delighted boss Brand thought his rampant side should have scored more after putting eight past Swansea in their last Premier League 2 outing.
He said: “Both the result and performance were pleasing.
“It wouldve been nice for the boys to have got the fifth, sixth and seventh that I thought our play deserved because we were dominant against a very well-organised Huddersfield team who obviously did their homework against us.
“They made it difficult for us to stamp what we wanted to do on the game but as it wore on I thought our possession told, spaces started to open up and the impact of the substitutes was good.
“It was a very pleasing night, four goals, clean sheet, no injuries and into the next round.”
Broja follows in the footsteps of Tammy Abraham and Dominic Solanke, who both bagged FA Youth Cup hat-tricks for the Blues.
Brand said of Broja, who has nine goals in the PL2 this season: “Im delighted for him, hes just done what hes been doing all season, which is finding the back of the net especially at Under-18s level.”
CHELSEA NEWS LIVE: Follow for all the latest on the Blues
It is the perfect time for the youngsters to show what they are made of.
Boss Frank Lampard is fulfilling his promise of promoting youth to the first team squad.
Several of the current senior team players have won the tournament in the past, including Callum Hudson-Odoi, reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Abraham, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
