Charlton Athletic 0 v 0 Brighton & Hove Albion

Charlton won 4-3 on penalties

Wednesday 21st December 2022, Kick-off 19.45

Carabao Cup Round Four
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: £15.00
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 17,474 (6,264 away)

Charlton have traditionally have had a shocking record in the League Cup, so reaching the last 16 this season has been a very pleasant surprise. And while the draw could have been better, it could have been a lot worse, and a home tie against a Premier League club, who would bring plenty of fans, the small chance of causing an upset, and with Brighton being a club I have a slight soft spot for, I was looking forward to making a rare attendance at a cup game.

Since the tie was drawn over a month ago, the chances of an upset have receded considerably. Since then, Charlton have lost manager Ben Garner, exited both the FA Cup and EFL Trophy, and picked up just a point from their last four league games - losing their last three, with a 1-2 home defeat against Bristol Rovers on Saturday. In theory, tonight would be an excellent time to face Brighton,  The Seagulls have not played a competitive game for over a month due to the World Cup, but are having another decent season mixing with the best, and will resume their Premier League season on Boxing Day in seventh place in the table, having won six and drawn three of their 14 league games. To reach this stage, they have seen off Forest Green Rovers 0-3 away and then Arsenal 1-3 away, while Charlton have beaten QPR 2-1 at home, Walsall 0-1 away, and finally Stevenage 1-2 away.

A match report can be read by clicking here, or copied and pasted below 

Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here , longer highlights by clicking here and full coverage of the penalty shot-out can be viewed by clicking here 

Kevin Nolan’s League Cup Valley View: Charlton Athletic 0-0 Brighton & Hove Albion (Charlton win 4-3 on penalties)

The Addicks might be at one of their lowest ever league positions, but a gutsy performance on Wednesday night saw them squeeze past Brighton for an historic cup win. KEVIN NOLAN reports.

A performance which combined good, old-fashioned guts with superbly organised defending saw Charlton through to the fifth round of the Carabao Cup (once known as the League Cup in simpler times). A timely slice of luck or two helped their cause but they fully deserved their victory over Premier League surprise packets Brighton after surviving a chaotic penalty shoot-out.

The jubilation which greeted Sam Lavelle’s decisive spot-kick was as much in relief as joy because the Addicks had suffered during normal time. Extra time would surely have proved an unendurable burden but then again, they were clearly in no mood to surrender. Their attitude was bloody-minded and hard-nosed so who knows how they might have responded to the additional half hour? And, come to that, how would Roberto De Zerbi’s top flight parvenus have dealt with it?

Wednesday’s backs-to-the-wall resistance might well have spelled the end of all that kidding around in their own penalty area which has proved costly on so many occasions recently. It was significant that outstanding keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer waved centre backs Lavelle and Ryan Inniss upfield when they ranged alongside him as he prepared to take his early goal kicks. They needed no further encouragement to comply and, freed of the responsibility to emulate Bobby Moore, settled down to defend responsibly and at times quite brilliantly.

So too did fledglings Lucas Ness and Richard Chin against the persistent but toothless visitors, whose overwhelming advantage in possession didn’t quite translate into clear-cut chances. Albion looked likely to score as they buzzed around the home penalty area but promised far more than they delivered.

They had their moments but, in Maynard-Brewer, encountered a goalkeeper who seems ready to take over as Charlton’s No. 1; not to mention the defensive shield provided by George Dobson who, as the cliche has it, covered every blade of grass. Dobson’s was nearly the perfect performance – one that gave heart to his often beleaguered colleagues.

As hardboiled as they were soft-centred just four days previously in capitulating to Bristol Rovers, the Addicks soaked up Brighton’s steady, drip-drip pressure in the first period, retreating into their own half and unapologetically forming a human barrier outside their penalty area. Defence involved all eleven players and while the South Coasters called the tune, it was more Muzak than Mozart. There were a couple of tricky situations but Charlton coped well enough.

Handing over management to new gaffer Dean Holden before Monday’s crucial visit of Peterborough United, caretaker Anthony Hayes went out in a blaze of glory, with the strong side he named “going out swinging” as he promised. They went toe-to-toe with what was virtually De Zerbi’s first choice selection and gave them all they could handle.

But the boost they gave Holden for his daunting Boxing Day debut was tempered by the worrying injuries sustained in a far from bruising cup tie. With almost monotonous regularity, one Addick after another bit the dust, the most dramatic of them the painfully limping Chuks Aneke, who lasted little more than five minutes as a replacement of Miles Leaburn before giving way himself to Jayden Stockley.

Both Leaburn and Aneke are no doubt integral to Holden’s plans, as is midfield schemer Scott Fraser, who joined them on the sideline with a quarter hour remaining. Jesurun Rak-Sakyi also finished as walking wounded, but not before he made a hash of his shoot-out penalty.

Prospects looked bleak as the Seagulls dominated the early going, with skipper Lewis Dunk nodding Solly March’s corner wastefully wide and Adam Lallana, set up by Tariq Lamptey’s square pass, skimming the bar from 20 yards. Jack Payne drew a save from Jason Steele and Dunk was required to block Steven Sessegnon’s effort but the interval arrived as welcome respite to the South East Londoners.

The second half provided more of the same, with Maynard-Brewer spectacularly tipping Levi Colwill’s bullet header over the bar before March combined flair with folly as he danced through the home defence but prodded inexplicably wide an apparently unmissable chance at close range.

Maynard-Brewer contributed smart saves from Moises Caicedo and substitute Leandro Trossard to secure, for the Addicks, a penalty shoot-out, at which they have recently encouraging form.

Pascal Gross hit the first penalty against a post; Stockley did likewise to square the score; Trossard hit the bar with Albion’s second effort before Jake Forster-Caskey efficiently gave Charlton a 1-0 lead. That lead disappeared as Lamptey converted and Dobson’s was saved by Steele.

The visitors went ahead when Dunk netted and Rak-Sakyi’s weak attempt was easily saved by Steele but March came to the rescue by ballooning into the Jimmy Seed Stand and Corey Blackett-Taylor efficiently converted. It was hardly the most clinical of penalty shoot-outs but Sessegnon delivered and after Maynard-Brewer athletically saved from Caicedo, Lavelle smashed a no-nonsense blockbuster past the helpless Steele.

Funny thing about penalty shoot-outs. Nearly everybody agrees they are no way to settle a game of football. But when you win one of them, you’re not quite as adamant. In fact, you quite warm to them. What better way is there? Extra time? No thanks, not on Wednesday. Stands to reason.

Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Sessegnon, Inniss, Lavelle, Chin, Ness, Rak-Sakyi, Payne (Blackett-Taylor 63), Fraser (Forster-Caskey 75), Dobson, Leaburn (Aneke 63, Stockley 68). Not used: McGillivray, Morgan, Kirk, Campbell, Mitchell.

Brighton: Steele, Lamptey, Dunk, Colwill, March, Gross, Lallana (Trossard 62), Enciso (Mitoma 66), Undav (Ferguson 78), Caicedo, Gilmour (Estupinan 62). Not used: McGill, Sarmiento, van Hecke, Veltman, Moran.

Referee: Thomas Bramall. Attendance: 17,464 (6,264).