EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 12,436 (121 away)
Today it was back to The Valley, for a game that was hardly one to make one's mouth water, but on paper at least, represented a decent opportunity to extend Charlton's recent decent form. There would be a strange background to the game though, with the takeover led by the controversial figure of Charlie Methven, which had looked merely a matter of time to be completed with various directors appointed to the club's board in December presumably at the request of the prospective new owners, being called off by current owner Thomas Sandgaard yesterday.
After the last home game against Bolton Wanderers, one of those games where you just have to hold your hands up and say you were beaten by the better team on the day, Charlton picked up their fourth win in five games last Saturday, surprisingly defeating Exeter City 1-2, to complete the league double over the Devon side. That was enough to lift Charlton just back into the top half of the table, in twelfth place, following nine wins and ten draws from 28 league games, and an equal ten points away from the play-off and relegation spots. On paper, this looked like a game that was highly winnable for Charlton - although highly winnable games have proved to be anything but at times for Charlton this season - home games against MK Dons, Forest Green and Cheltenham spring instantly to mind. Fleetwood were down in 17th place in the table, following six wins and eleven draws from 28 league games, and are just two points clear of the relegation zone. However, a no doubt fired-up Jayden Stockley would be in their starting line-up today, eager to make a point no doubt against the club who sold him just a couple of weeks ago after a dismal season, scoring just twice in 24 league appearances for the Addicks this season. But he scored on his debut for Fleetwood last week. Fleetwood came into this game on the back of four straight defeats in the league, although during that time, they caused an upset in the FA Cup, beating QPR, before losing in a replay to Sheffield Wednesday in the Fourth Round. When today's clubs met in the reverse fixture back in September, the points were shared after a 1-1 draw.
A match report can be viewed by clicking here , and copied and pasted below.
Brief match highlights can be viewed by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 1-2 Fleetwood Town
Addicks fans have that sinking feeling again. KEVIN NOLAN watched a desperate affair at The Valley.
In-form Charlton, well rested after triumphing at Exeter last weekend and boosted by four wins from their previous five games, were understandably confident of extending an encouraging run by defeating relegation-threatened Fleetwood Town at an expectant Valley on Saturday.
Beaten at home by lowly Burton Albion in their last league game, meanwhile, Scott Brown’s bhoys had qualified for the FA Cup fifth round by knocking out table-topping Sheffield Wednesday in a mild upset, but that hardly qualified as a reliable form guide. It was widely assumed that Wednesday had heavily prioritised their league campaign and were less than disappointed to lose last Tuesday.
Winners of only six league games this season but kept afloat by eleven draws, Town had managed only 31 goals but had shown signs of a stubborn streak by conceding just two more than that paltry total. Their 2-3 “goalfest” against Burton the previous weekend was clearly out of character for the Cod Army.
Huddled together for warmth in the Jimmy Seed Stand, 121 travelling fans gave a brave account of themselves but probably feared the worst. They haven’t exactly set League One alight on the road and their cheerful mood was a triumph of hope over experience.
As a quiet first half trudged along, with the Addicks proving no better – or indeed worse – than their Fylde Coast visitors, a splendid goal that was completely out of context withs its mundane surroundings illuminated the proceedings and sent a familiar, cold chill down local spines.
Abruptly shaken out of their cosy sense of superiority, home fans were startled but hardly surprised by the sudden turn of events.
Hurried off the bench as early as the ninth minute to replace his stricken captain Danny Andrew, defender Shaun Rooney settled down quickly, shored up the hole left by Andrew and found time to venture upfield to swell the numbers on setpieces. Stationed some 25 yards from goal as an inconclusive headed clearance reached him, the 26-year-old Scot unleashed an uninhibited half-volley which screamed into the top left corner with Ashley Maynard-Brewer airborne but hopelessly beaten by the sheer brutality of the strike.
Stung into action by the setback, Charlton sought instant reprisal. Skipper George Dobson, set up by Scott Fraser, curled a first-time effort narrowly over the bar before Fraser himself moved on to Gavin Kilkenny’s pass, shot on the run but was foiled by Carl Johnston’s heroic block.
The Addicks looked likely to take a one-goal deficit in with them at the interval until, in the last of five added minutes, a second goal which again belonged in a better game than this earnestly mediocre affair, drew them level.
Confirmed as on loan from Crystal Palace for the rest of the season, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi delights and frustrates in equal measure. His shimmering talent is undeniable but is often let down by poor choices. With a head of steam behind him, however, he’s a sight for red and white eyes, as he proved yet again while referee Carl Boyeson reached for his half-time whistle.
Picking up Sean Clare’s shrewd pass, Rak-Sakyi’s magic feet disposed of Scott Robertson’s challenge as he cut inside from the right, wrongfooted Town’s central defenders and dispatched an unstoppable drive past Jay Lynch. His wonderful, bravura goal appeared, at the time, to have set up the homeboys for a match-winning second half onslaught.
Seven minutes after the resumption, the Addicks instead found themselves trailing again. Their poor defending of setpieces, in this case Phoenix Patterson’s inswinging left-wing corner, was their all too familiar downfall. Hardly a shrimp but dwarfed by Ryan Inniss, Lucas Ness and their co-defendants, Harrison Holgate – a single, diminutive cod among several towering haddocks – leaped like a salmon and headed what turned out to be the match-winner into the centre of Maynard-Brewer’s net.
Surprisingly in front, Fleetwood produced a masterclass in the various methods of game management. The second period rapidly degenerated into an ugly series of stoppages, not all of them down to Brown’s men. As they regularly collapsed in simulated agony and pondered long and hard over such dilemmas as goal-kicks and throw-ins, they were assisted by the genuine injuries which afflicted their hosts.Lengthy treatment of injuries to Clare and Matt Penney led to their withdrawal and will present Dean Holden with selection problems for Tuesday’s trip to Forest Green Rovers.
In the shorter term, the late dismissal of Inniss sealed Charlton’s fate. Sent off for chopping down Harvey Macadam, the huge centre-back deserved his red card; no amount of Holden’s disingenuous defence that Ness was the last defender should deflect from the brutal truth that Inniss’s disciplinary record needs urgent improvement. He’s a good lad but he needs to calm down. There is still a season to complete and we’ll need all hands available to get through it.
Meanwhile, it’s on to Nailsworth to take on FGR. Should be easy… er, p’raps not.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Clare (Sessegnon 61), Inniss, Ness, Penney (Campbell 81), Dobson, Fraser, Blackett-Taylor, Kilkenny (Aneke 66), Rak-Sakyi, Bonne. Not used: Wollacott, Thomas, Morgan, Payne. Booked: Fraser, Penney. Sent off: Inniss.
Fleetwood: Lynch, Andrew (Rooney 9), Wiredu, Mendes Gomes (Macadam 55), Robertson, Marriott (Hayes 66), Warrington, Holgate, Patterson (Nsiala 55), Johnston, Stockley (Omochere 66). Not used: McMullan, Dolan. Booked: Wiredu, Holgate, Johnston.
Referee: Carl Boyeson. Attendance: 12,436 (121 visiting).
No comments:
Post a Comment