EFL Championship
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 19,720 (3,154 away)
This was a match that Charlton fans were really looking forward to, as it would be first home league game since the takeover of the club by East Street Investments was officially confirmed, following the EFL's approval, thereby bringing an end to Roland Duchatelet's shambolic, at times breathtakingly incompetent ownership since 2014. And with the new chairman, Matt Southall, making all the right noises about engaging with the fans and local community, looking for organic development of the club, and even Abu Dhabi based majority shareholder His Excellency Tahnoon Nimer speaking of his enthusiasm for the challenge, it really felt like the sun was starting to rise again in SE7, after 5 years of dispair and gloom - even last season's promotion was tainted with fears about the future.
This promised to be a tough assignment for Charlton, however, still plagued by injuries, and with both senior strikers Lyle Taylor and Macauley Bonne out injured, it was left to 20 year old Josh Davison, who finished last season with Isthmian League outfit Enfield Town, to lead the line.Slowly players were coming back though, with Johnny Williams and Tomer Hemed on the bench, and on loan signing from Aston Villa, Andre Green, making his debut in the starting XI. Charlton came into this game in 19th place in the 24 club division, four points clear of the relegation zone, and since the Boxing Day win at The Valley against Bristol City, they lost 2-1 at Derby County, and 0-1 at Swansea City. West Bromwich Albion came into this game in second place, following 14 wins and ten draws from their 26 league games, level on points with leaders Leeds United, and 9 points clear of third place and the play-off positions. They had only picked up two points from their last four league games, however. A quirk of fate saw this exact same fixture played at The Valley last Sunday in the FA Cup 3rd Round, with West Brom triumphing by 0-1. Very different teams would be fielded today from that game though, with Charlton's team more resembling an Academy line-up, and included a 16 year old in Aaron Henry. When the two clubs met in the reverse league fixture back in late October, the match finished 2-2, with Charlton equalising four minutes into added on time with a penalty.
A match report of the game can be viewed by clicking here, while video highlights can be viewed by clicking .here.
So, a very good point for Charlton, coming from behind twice against against a club for whom this point was enough to send them to the top of the table.
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