EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 16,278 (2,995 away)
As a Charlton fan, there is little to look forward to with a trip to The Valley this season. After new owner "Thomas Sandgaard" confidently predicting at the end of the last season that "next season we are going to blow it out this division" raised fans hopes, the reality has been very different so far this season. After promises of getting business done early in the transfer window, most meaningful activity was conducted after the season started and much of it close to the deadline, with the result that the squad is looking ill prepared, the manager Nigel Adkins does not seem to have a clue what his best XI is, nor what his tactics should be, with the result that the Addicks are, on paper at least considering the decent quality within the squad, facing a battle against relegation rather than striving for the play-offs. So, not much look to forward to as a Charlton fan, although this was one of the games where there promised to be a decent atmosphere, with the visitors always bringing a large and loud following, and indeed they packed the away end today.
Charlton came into this game down in 21st place, in the relegation zone, with a 1-2 defeat at Wycombe and a 1-1 draw at Gillingham following Charlton's last home game. The result that Charlton still only had one win to show from 8 league games, that coming against a poor and decimated Crewe side. After winning their opening three league games, Portsmouth have been in poor form themselves, having picked up just two points from their last five league games, and came into this game in 12th place in the table, following three wins and two draws from their 8 league games.
Ahead of kick-off, a mosaic was unveiled outside of the West Stand for Charlton superfan Seb Lewis, who clocked up 1076 consecutive Charlton games, home and away, before succumbing to Covid-19 in the early stages of the pandemic. The mosaic is truly stunning, visually attractive and capturing his devotion to the club excellently, and more about Seb and the mosaic can be read from a very moving tribute on the Charlton website,
After conducting his usual shuffling of his pack to try ond find a winning solution, Nigel Adkins making a further five changes to his starting line-up today, but it was soon the same old story for the Addicks, falling behind as early as the sixth minute, Ronan Curtis bizarrely invited to cut inside by Charlton right back Adam Matthews instead of being shown the line, and this was duly punished when Curtis fired in a lovely curling, dipping shot over former Pompey keeper Craig MacGillivray and inside the far post. And they really should have doubled their lead on when John Marquis received the ball on the six year line but couldn't trap the ball, and when he recovered the ball with defender Jason Pearce having fallen over, Marquis inexplicably sent a tame shot beyond the far post.with the goal very much at his mercy. Charlton had some decent chances to get back on level terms, with Jonathan Leko providing the spark, but at half time it was 0-1 to the visitors
However, within two minutes of the restart, Charlton got back on level terms following a free kick virtually on the byline which was passed backwards by Elliott Lee for half time sub Sean Clare to run onto all alone, and he drilled the ball low inside the keeper's near post. Lee then saw a shot from an angle blocked by the keeper's legs, and Leko saw a fizzing, swerving long range shot parried over the the Portsmouth keeper, but on 72 minutes, it was the visitors who went back in front. The ball was played forward to Marquis at the edge of the area, who deftly guided the ball into the path of the onrunning Marcus Harness, and he struck the ball home from a central position just inside the penalty area. All was not lost for the Addicks as on 87 minutes they levelled the scores for a second time with two subsittutes combining, Corey Blackett-Taylor receiving the ball on the left wing before driving towards the byline and then playing a perfect low cross into the six yard box for Josh Davison to tap home. The Addicks pushed hard for a winner in the closing minutes, but a 2-2 draw was probably a fair result, and from a Charlton point of view, would hopefully provide something to build on in the hope of salvaging their season.
Short highlights of this match can be viewed by clicking here
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