Chelsea made it six wins from six in pre-season as we lifted the Barclays Asia Trophy following a convincing win against Aston Villa in Hong Kong. It sees John Terry claim a trophy he first lifted eight years ago in Kuala Lumpur, and is the perfect start to the campaign for new manager Andre Villas-Boas, who was able to give a large chunk of his squad valuable match minutes once more.

We started perfectly as youngster Josh McEachran slammed home his first senior Chelsea goal inside the first minute, taking advantage of an opposition that looked well behind us in preparation for the forthcoming season.

Chelsea dominance followed but it would be almost an hour before a second goal, when substitute Fernando Torres side-footed into the bottom corner after Florent Malouda had mishit an ambitious drive from distance.

Another clean sheet means we are yet to concede in this pre-season campaign, with further good news being the return to action of Alex, though it did look as though Branislav Ivanovic may have been struggling before he was brought off at half-time.

The squad now flies home to England where preparations will continue for the start of the Premier League season with a week of training and a trip to Rangers next Saturday.

Chelsea played some exceptional football at times, McEachran and Anelka in particular linking up well in the first half, but the event most fans will go home remembering and replaying in their minds was Torres's first touch, expertly opening his body up as the ball flashed across him to guide it low beyond the goalkeeper's reach. Not bad for a first touch.

Andre Villas-Boas had said there would be more changes in his pre-match press conference. Most noticeably there was two in attack. Nicolas Anelka started centrally for the first time in pre-season, flanked by Daniel Sturridge to the right, the 21-year-old having netted as a sub on Wednesday, and Malouda on the left.

Petr Cech returned in goal with Jose Bosingwa replacing Paulo Ferreira at right-back, while Branislav Ivanovic was in for Slobodan Rajkovic in the heart of defence, and Yury Zhirkov dropped deep to begin at left-back in place of Ashley Cole.

McEachran also started, back in alongside Frank Lampard and ahead of the returning John Mikel Obi, but the regulation seven substitutions would be expected.

It took just 33 seconds for Chelsea to burst into the lead, and for McEachran to claim a first goal at first-team level.

Anelka was allowed time in the area to shoot, low across goalkeeper Shay Given who parried it out but only to Florent Malouda who did everything right before the keeper made an outstanding save to prevent him scoring, only for McEachran to react quickest and stab home from close range.

Not only did Chelsea score early, we completely dominated, forcing corner after corner and denying our Premier League opponents any possession within the opening 10 minutes.

Their first opportunity came on a breakaway, Gabby Agbonlahor pulling the ball back for Stephen Ireland on the edge of the area, the midfielder skying his shot without troubling Petr Cech.

John Mikel Obi, normally so restricted in his attacking movement, even got in on the act when he put the ball in the net following a Chelsea free-kick, but the Nigerian was correctly ruled offside. A second goal would not have been flattering to the Blues though, whose passing had been crisp and incisive as opposed to Villa's sluggish play.

Given punched a Lampard free-kick away and Malouda volleyed over before McEachran and Anelka combined excellently in the left channel, the youngster feeding the veteran, whose shot on his weak side was saved low by Given.

The half-time whistle must have come as a relief to Villa, their manager striding purposefully to the dugouts, a contrast to the relaxed looking Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas brought on Alex at half-time, the defender seemingly over his knee injury, in place of Ivanovic who looked to have picked up a thigh problem towards the end of the first half. Villa brought on more muscle in the shape of Emile Heskey, on in place of Marc Albrighton as they shifted shape to 4-4-2.

A Villa corner was half-cleared to Stiliyan Petrov a few yards outside the area, the Bulgarian volleying narrowly wide through a crowd of bodies, while at the other end a Malouda corner was headed on target by John Terry before Heskey hacked it clear.

Zhirkov then forced Given into a smart parry before Lampard should have doubled the lead, instead heading straight at the stopper after Malouda had picked him out perfectly.

Villas-Boas made three changes on 57 minutes, and within seconds the lead was doubled, Torres guiding the ball home from 10 yards with his first touch after Malouda had skewed a shot from distance.

It was the cheer of the night inside the Hong Kong Stadium, and must have been a relief to the Spaniard who had not scored on this tour. Questions of offside were asked, but he looked to have timed his run perfectly.

This was the first time since Torres's debut that he had shared the field with both Didier Drogba and Anelka , the Frenchman seeming to be operating at the top of a midfield diamond, Maluoda dropping deeper and Torres and Drogba working in tandem up front.

Whiel Drogba stayed central, Torres had freedom to float wide, and it was from here on the right that he created his next opportunity single-handedly. The 27-year-old turned his marker and ran for goal but didn't connect well with his shot, which Given kicked away.

Malouda then found Torres in the area but he was crowded out before getting meaningful contact.

Brief respite for the Villa backline produced an opportunity for sub Darren Bent, but under pressure from Terry he hammered his shot high over Petr Cech's crossbar.

The Chelsea goalkeeper had not yet made a save of note. He was almost called into action with five minutes to go when Heskey's shot deflected off Terry, but it flashed a foot wide of his far post leaving us with a perfect pre-season defensive record.

On top of that Villas-Boas has his first silverware as Chelsea manager, and while it will not mean too much, the signs are positive for a successful season ahead.


- Match stats:

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic (Alex h-t), Terry (c) (Chalobah 89), Zhirkov (Van Aanholt 57); McEachran (Drogba 57), Mikel, Lampard (Kalou 84); Sturridge (Drogba 57), Anelka (Benayoun 73), Malouda.
Unused subs Hilario, Cole, Ferreira, Rajkovic, B Clifford.
Goals McEachran 1, Torres 58
Booked Malouda 90+2

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Given;Young, Dunne (Clark 83), Collins, Warnock; Albrighton (Heskey h-t), Delph (Makoun 73), Petrov (c) (Gardner 73), Ireland (Bent 61), Delfouneso (Bannan 61); Agbonlahor.
Unused subs Guzan, Beye, Hogg, Herd, Marshall, Lowry.

Goals
Booked Albrighton 28

- Match report and Photo by Chelseafc.tv