EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 13,790 (511 away)
In the two weeks since Charlton's last game, where Charlton picked up their first three points at the fifth time of asking with a 2-0 victory at home to Crewe, it is fair to say a new wave of optimism engulfed Charlton supporters, with a string of decent looking signings up to the transfer deadline of 31st August, as well as a couple more free agents following afterwards. A squad that had looked painfully threadbare suddenly looked more filled out, with good experience and competition now appearing in most positions. Furthermore, Charlton recorded a 6-1 victory at home to Crawley Town in the EFL Trophy. Sadly, it didn't take long for that feel-good to factor to evaporate in a desperately disappointing afternoon at The Valley.
After promotion from League Two as champions last season, Cheltenham have made a steady start to life in the third tier of the EFL, having won one, drawn three and lost two of their opening six league games, whilst Charlton had won one and drawn one of their six league games so far.
What happened at kick-off turned out to be quite an apt snapshot of the disjointed performance that Charlton would put on in the first half, when Charlton's players kicked off whilst most other players fell to take the knee. With just six minutes on the clock, it was the visitors who took the lead. A cross was whipped in from the right, deflecting off a defender's head for Alfie May to run onto at the edge of the penalty area, and his drilled shot was well parried by Charlton keeper Craig MacGillivray, only for the ball to fall to Matty Blair, who drilled the ball low across the keeper and inside the far post from a fairly tight angle. So, a bad start for Charlton, and things were to get much worse with a shocking display, giving the Cheltenham players far too much time and space, there was little shape or structure to Charlton's play, and the Cheltenham players were increasingly able to just waltz through the midfield virtually unopposed. The inevitable second goal came on 33 minutes, with Matty Blair this time the provider, whipping in a cross from the right which Taylor Perry tapped home first time on the stretch from a central position. A couple of very decent saves from MacGillivray prevented Charlton from falling further behind, and unsurprisingly, the half time whistle was met with a chorus of boos and jeers from the Charlton fans, left wondering what on earth had been going on in training since the last game two weeks ago.
The start of the second half saw a much improved performance from the home side, with Jonathan Leko, arriving on loan on deadline day after a successful spell with the Addicks a couple of years ago, coming on for Charlie Kirk, Charlton's headline signing so far who has shown brief glimpses of promise but has generally been very disappointing so far. Suddenly Charlton were carving out some decent chances, and it was Leko who pulled a goal back on 59 minutes, after Connor Washington laid the ball off to him in the penalty area, and Leko drilled the ball low into the net beyond the keeper's dive. Charlton kept the pressure up, but as the game wore on, Charlton pressure seemed to peter out somewhat, probably in part by some understandable delaying tactics by the Cheltenham players which the referee refused to properly clamp down on - the most laughably when the Cheltenham keeper Scott Flinders took a ridiculously long time to take a goal kick, the referee then marched down from the half way line - to just give the keeper a warning, rather than the yellow card which would have stopped the timewasting tactics at a stroke. And so Cheltenham held on for the three points they certainly deserved, and whilst the second half was much improved for Charlton, the overall performance was a major disappointment and concern, with much to work on for a club that high hopes of a play-off spot at least this season.
Short video highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here
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