EFL League One
The Valley. Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 12,165 (634 away)
Today would be my first visit to The Valley of 2023, just as well really, as there was yet another rail strike running today, but I could take advantage of getting to the game aboard the Valley Express. Unfortunately, that turned out to be something of an adventure. After the usual coach provider LJ Edwards ceased trading in the last few days, a new coach company and driver took over the route, and unfortunately the driver was woefully unprepared, missing a stop and taking several wrong turns, and so had to carry out some very awkward U-turns. Combined with heavy traffic, I finally entered the stand about 15 minutes ahead of kick-off - so all was well that ended well...
Things have started to look slightly up again for the Addicks, with a visit to Old Trafford in the League Cup Quarter Final to look forward to on Tuesday, and having surprisingly picked up a 1-3 win away at Portsmouth on New Years Day. Surprising, considering the poor run of form Charlton were in, but less surprising considering the Addicks' excellent record against Portsmouth, having won on each of their last seven visits to Fratton Park, stretching back to 2005, and won seven out of the last nine encounters overall. And following that latest victory, Charlton were in 17th place in the table, following six wins and ten draws from 24 league games, and have doubled the gap from the relegation to six points. Today's encounter looked winnable, with Lincoln in 15th place in the table, following six wins and eleven draws from their 23 league games, and so were one point and two places better off than the Addicks. With 21 draws out of 47 games played by both clubs combined, a draw certainly looked the most likely outcome ahead of kick-off.
A match report of this game can be viewed by clicking here, and copied and pasted below.
Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-1 Lincoln City
Charlton survived a nervy end to the match – played amid a downpour at The Valley – to record their first home win since mid-October. KEVIN NOLAN was there to see it.
Carried along for 45 minutes on the crest of a wave which began breaking at Fratton Park five days previously, a newly-confident Charlton played Lincoln City off the park, scored two splendid goals and seemed on their way to comprehensive victory. It was, of course, too good to be true and by the time seven added second-half minutes had elapsed, the Addicks were bedraggled and hanging on desperately. Plus ça change, then.
The first half was a pleasure to watch and a privilege to report. A side unchanged, with the exception of Craig McGillivray in goal for concussion-hit Ashley Maynard-Brewer, tore into their visitors with confidence boosted by their excellent – and customary – win over Portsmouth (bless their nautical hides!).
With midfield domination secured by the outstanding trio of Scott Fraser, Albie Morgan and the all-purpose George Dobson, Dean Holden’s aggressive line-up threw off a diffident start and hardly gave the Imps a look-in until the interval came to their rescue. Holden’s front three, featuring the tricks and pace of wide men Corey Blackett-Taylor and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi on either side of Miles Leaburn’s precocious self-assurance, gave City all they could handle.
In the early going, Morgan’s terrific diagonal pass gave Blackett-Taylor the space he needed to cross to the far post, where Rak-Sakyi shot tamely into Carl Rushworth’s hands.
With the pressure mounting, Fraser’s free kick was headed narrowly wide by Leaburn, before shots from Fraser and Rak-Sakyi curled inches off target. Charlton’s breakthrough was surprisingly delayed until the 35th minute, when the bang in-form Scot started and finished a move which broke Lincoln’s weakening resistance.
Bursting through the centre circle, Fraser picked out Leaburn, unmarked on the right flank, with a sweeping pass and continued his run through the inside left channel. Blackett-Taylor’s challenge in the middle proved a useful distraction as Leaburn’s deep cross from the byline proceeded, untouched, to Fraser, who directed a deliberate header back across Rushworth. The keeper managed a touch but couldn’t prevent its flight into the far corner.
Three minutes before the break, the Addicks doubled their lead, with Fraser again heavily involved. Sent away by Dobson’s perceptive pass, he delivered an inch-perfect through ball which Blackett-Taylor took seamlessly in his stride. Moving wide of a struggling Joe Walsh, the portsider hammered an unstoppable drive past Rushworth, who curiously shouldered arms as the shot whizzed past him.
A third goal would clearly have finished off Mark Kennedy’s men and a golden chance to do so was squandered by Charlton shortly after the resumption. Cutting inside Harry Boyes, Rak-Sakyi forced a smart parrying save from Rushworth.
Flying in to meet the inviting rebound, Leaburn shovelled it haplessly over the bar from four yards. At the time, his miss seemed no more than a blip in an otherwise smooth performance by the Addicks. But for the relieved Imps, a small and apparently insignificant corner had been turned. They had nothing more to lose – and possibly a point or better to gain.
A tame effort scuffed tamely at McGillivray by substitute Charles Vernam hardly dripped with menace but, with a quarter of an hour remaining, City reduced their arrears and dramatically changed the momentum.
Charlton’s previously-untroubled defence was reduced to rubble as Danny Mandriou emerged from a hectic penalty-spot scramble with clear sight of McGillivray’s goalposts. His first effort was heroically charged down by Steven Sessegnon, his second brilliantly blocked by Dobson. At the third time of asking, Mandriou found the net off the underside of the bar and filled three sides of The Valley with a familiar sense of foreboding. You could say it goes with the territory.
By the time seven added minutes were announced, the Addicks were falling apart but lurching toward an important home win, their first since Portsmouth (put your hands together for good old Pompey, so often Charlton’s help in ages past) came to the rescue back on October 17th last year.
But Kennedy’s Imps had one last shot in their locker and hearts leapt into mouths as Mandriou, set up cleverly by Teddy Bishop, drilled it heart-stoppingly wide of the left post. It’s a game of inches, so they say, and all of Charlton’s earlier superiority would have counted for nothing – or next to nothing – if Mandriou’s drive had passed to the right rather than the left of McGillivray’s far upright.
But when you catch a wave, it makes sense to ride it. We’re coming for you next, United…
Charlton: McGillivray, Clare, Inniss, Ness, Dobson, Rak-Sakyi (Kirk 85), Morgan (Payne 70), Fraser, Blackett-Taylor (O’Connell 90), Sessegnon, Leaburn (Stockley 90). Not used: Harness, Henry, Chin. Booked: Payne, Sessegnon, Dobson.
Lincoln: Rushworth, Poole, Boyes, Sanders (Vernam 61), Hopper, O’Connor, Walsh (Makama 88), Mandriou, Sorensen, Eyoma, Diamond (Bishop 46). Not used: Wright, Oakley-Boothe, Bann, Kendall.
Referee: James Oldham. Attendance: 12,165 (634 visiting).
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