Saturday 23rd December 2023, Kick-off 15.00
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 12,210 (156 away)
The fixture list generator threw up a home game just two days before Christmas, with the less than magical opposition of Burton Albion in town.
Since the hugely disappointing 2-2 draw against Cambridge United a fortnight ago - which felt more like a defeat after a largely dull performance culminated in a two goal lead on 86 minutes being thrown away by conceding in the 87th minute and then in the sixth minute of added on time, albeit to a penalty which clearly should not have been awarded, with the foul taking place outside of the area - the Addicks apparently put in a much better performance last Saturday, with a 1-1 draw at play-off chasing Barnsley, and once again the Addicks were on the wrong side of a very poor officiating decision, with the ball seeming to go quite clearly out of play in the build up to the Barnsley goal. That left Charlton in tenth place in the table, following seven wins and seven draws from 20 league games, but with the gap to the play-offs nine points, the festive period would have to be very productive indeed to keep play-off hopes alive. This game seemed to present an ideal opportunity to make a good start on that, with Burton Albion coming into this game in 19th place in the table, following five wins and five draws from their 21 league games, and had lost their last five league games, and picked up just one point in their last seven.
A match report can be read by clicking here, also copied and pasted below
Brief highlights can be viewed by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 1-1 Burton Albion
The Addicks were booed off in their last match before Christmas after a dire performance against relegation contenders Burton Albion. KEVIN NOLAN explains why.
Before tackling this dreadful game between two worse than average League One sides, it might do to apologise, like those blokes do on telly, for any offensive language you might read between the lines.
There’s no excuse except to say that Charlton would try the patience of a saint.
When the clock ticked off 90 minutes at an increasingly apprehensive Valley, it appeared likely that, for once, the Addicks were on their way to what is called “winning ugly”. And with the fourth official’s board showing a mere three minutes to be added, that rare possibility hardened into genuine hope.
Trailing since the 19th minute, Burton had managed only one weak shot on target, an optimistic effort from Mustapha Caryol early in the second half. They had been let off the hook by their toothless hosts but had, in left-back Joe Powell, one of the most effective set-piece specialists in this miserable division. And inevitably, Charlton contrived to concede one more free kick as they staggered towards the line.
Powell’s left-wing delivery was metronomically accurate as usual and caused chaos in Charlton’s crowded penalty area. In an untidy flurry of activity, both Sam Hughes and Steve Seddon managed touches for Burton which slipped Ryan Sweeney in behind a floundering Addicks defence. Played onside by Tayo Edu, the Scottish midfielder kept his head and finished coolly past Ashley Maynard-Brewer.
A pin could be heard dropping in a disbelieving stadium which, though it’s seen it all before, was still stunned into silence. Except, of course, in an all-but-deserted Jimmy Seed Stand, where 156 travelling Brewers were roused from their torpor before celebrating appropriately. Their unlikely point could make all the difference at the end of this weary season.
Charlton’s seventh draw, meanwhile, gives them an equal number of wins, draws and losses which seems a perfect way of defining a grey, run-of-the-mill team. They are mercifully good enough to stay out of relegation trouble while the gap widens between themselves and the promotion contenders. In other words, they are consistent. Consistent but boring.
Manager Michael Appleton appears no closer to stemming the concession of late goals, often in added time. He was well served by centre-backs Michael Hector and Lloyd Jones, both of whom made sturdy contributions. Their partnership even combined to create and score the Addicks’ first half goal but, on the flipside, was part of the corporate disorder which brought them to their knees. Charlton are incapable, based on all available evidence, of seeing a game out to its bitter end.
There’s a familiar softness, even a fatal weakness, at their core. One which lets them down with alarming regularity.
In the early stages of Saturday’s dismal farrago, Powell had served fair warning of the setpiece proficiency on which Albion clearly pinned their hopes. His 16th-minute inswinging corner ricocheted wildly off Hughes and appeared bound for Ashley Maynard-Brewer’s net until the young Aussie keeper scrambled back to claw it to safety. The general panic which paralysed his colleagues provided an ominous harbinger of things to come.
There was an element of poetic payback in the goal, three minutes later, which provided Charlton with the lead they ultimately proved incapable of protecting. Scott Fraser’s free kick, after Daniel Kanu had been hauled down by John Brayford, cleared a congested goal area but was retrieved near the right corner flag and crossed deliciously by Hector.
Rising majestically above Beryly Lubala, Jones suffered a painful blow on the nose but bravely headed his maiden goal for the club.
Until Sweeney’s late but predictable equaliser, chances were rare at either end. Charlton were the more accomplished side which, given the Brewers’ laborious efforts, hardly recommended them. Fraser’s free kick cleared the bar while Kanu shot narrowly wide, isolated efforts which fell short of an onslaught.
For their part, the visitors offered nothing more than the hope that Powell’s dead-ball deliveries would amount to something. That hope was realised and in one fell swoop, as they say, virtually extinguished Charlton’s own already flickering hopes of joining the end-of-season promotion shakedown.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Tennai Watson, Jones, Hector, Edun, Dobson, Chem Campbell (Louie Watson 65), Fraser (Tyreece Campbell 74), Blackett-Taylor, Kanu (Tedic 85), May. Not used: Walker, Thomas, Asiimwe, Anderson. Booked: Dobson, Jones.
Burton: Crocombe, Brayford, Seddon, Oshilaja, Hughes, Sweeney, Powell, Bennett (Baah 71), Lubala (Walker 85), Carayol (Kamwa 71), Caprice. Not used: Blackman, Harper, Gordon, Moon.
Referee: Lee Swabey
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