• Filip Jorgensen emerged as an unexpected hero of the night
• Christopher Nkunku scored in the Conference League again
• Chelsea claimed their latest victory in the European competition

Chelsea had to work much harder for Thursday night’s Conference League win over Heidenheim than they have done in previous matchdays in the competition.

It was a pretty even contest overall, Enzo Maresca’s team eventually going in front early in the second half through Christopher Nkunku and doubling that advantage towards the end of the game, courtesy of Mykhailo Mudryk

But a raw Heidenheim were never out of the game and a more polished performance from them could have made this a quite different result in the end.

How the game unfolded

The visiting Blues, wearing white, dominated possession but both sides created plenty of chances from the earliest stages of the contest. Heidenheim, the ultimate underdog club after spending most of their history in Germany’s lower leagues, certainly weren’t overawed by the occasion.

Mikkel Kaufmann had an early sight of goal when he was just unable to connect with Leo Scienza’s free-kick. Marc Guiu and Kaufmann went on to trade chances, with the Chelsea youngster twice denied by Heidenheim stopper Kevin Muller either side of Filip Jorgensen saving from fellow Dane Kaufmann at the other end.

Both goalkeepers were soon called into action again, Muller parrying from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jorgensen keeping his wrist strong to divert a powerful Paul Wanner strike wide. Chelsea then wanted a penalty as Mudryk tumbled under pressure from two defenders. The referee was un-moved, even after a VAR review suggested he take another look at the pitch-side monitor.

Nkunku was the next Chelsea player to test Muller in the closing stages of the first half, but there was no stopping the prolific Frenchman once the game resumed after the break. Heidenheim won’t have been pleased with how it happened, losing the possession to Axel Diasi and the ball working its way into the box via Dewsbury-Hall and Jadon Sancho. Nkunku still had work to do, holding off the attentions of Lennard Maloney before steering past Muller.

Rather than kick on from breaking the deadlock, Chelsea found themselves under pressure. Maloney and Scienza both had chances as Heidenheim searched for the equaliser. Those failed to test Jorgensen, but the young goalkeeper soon proved his ability with a double save from Wanner.

Into the final 20 minutes and Nkunku should have extended Chelsea’s advantage when substitute Joao Felix put him through on goal with an entire half to run into. But Muller won the battle, as he then did against Dewsbury-Hall when the midfielder also only had the goalkeeper to beat.

Heidenheim had the ball in the net when substitute Maximilian Breunig stooped to head beyond Jorgensen, only for a flag to rule it out – he was visibly offside. The killer blow for the hosts finally came in the closing stages when Dewsbury-Hall and Sancho against combined, with the latter cutting it back to the edge of the box for Mudryk to lash in first time.