Cole Palmer: Chelsea playmaker inspires Conference League final win

No one needed this moment more than Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson.

Before the match, even Maresca said Jackson owed a “debt” to his team-mates after getting sent off in the 2-0 defeat at Newcastle on 11 May, a red card that could well have cost Chelsea qualification for the Champions League.

After the match, Maresca said “this is the Nico that the team needs”.

He is among those who have struggled to convince the Stamford Bridge fanbase – and the club are looking to sign a striker, with Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap among their targets.

However, in that regard, the Senegal international is just like the head coach and the owners, who have all banked credit by winning a trophy.

For Maresca, this was his chance to show the club could build a winning mentality after a season during which he has faced criticism for his style of football and a run of poor results over the winter.

For the US consortium, their ownership was tarnished by 1,201 days without silverware but the moment captain Reece James lifted the Conference League trophy, the first in his captaincy, they earned valuable breathing room.

Boehly was the first to go and celebrate with the team, followed reluctantly by influential Clearlake Capital duo Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano.

Boehly and Clearlake have not always seen eye-to-eye this season but this is a period of relative stability after the club decided they would stick with Maresca regardless of the result of their last two matches of the season.

Chelsea beat Nottingham Forest to qualify for the Champions League and won against Betis to add silverware.

But Chelsea didn’t sell out their allocation in Poland, for what was the final of European club football’s third-tier competition, and fans will quickly move on if it is not backed up with both progress and further success next season.

Maresca told TNT after the match: “I feel good – but also the fans, they deserve that. They have been waiting a few years for that so they deserve it.

“The club have invested a lot of money in the last two, three years so they are also waiting for results. Hopefully this can be a starting point. From tonight, from this season, building something important.”

Substitute Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall said: “There’s a lot more to come from me. Getting a taste of silverware makes you more hungry.”