Saturday 28th November 2023, Kick-off 19.45
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 10,622 (287 away)
This evening was, in some respects, a test of my commitment to following Charlton, with a midweek fixture up at The Valley meaning I would get home close to 1am the following morning, with work the next day, Charlton in average form, and bitterly cold conditions forecast this evening. My attending was never seriously in doubt though, particularly as tonight was Charlton's first home fixture in a month.
Tonight's visitors Cheltenham Town had a disastrous start to their season, not scoring their first league goal until mid October, in their 12th league fixture. But their recent form has picked up, winning two and drawing the other of their last three league games, They came into this game still in the relegation zone though, second bottom, following three wins and three draws from 17 league games, scoring just nine goals in total. Since Charlton's last home league game, a 0-2 defeat to Bolton, the Addicks won 2-3 at Wigan, and drew 2-2 at Portsmouth and 1-1 at Carlisle, as well as a rather embarassing 1-1 home draw against Isthmian League outfit Cray Valley PM, before eventually winning the replay 1-6, and also sealing progress in the EFL Trophy, with a 3-0 home win against Sutton United. Charlton came into this game in tenth place in the table, following six wins and five draws from their 17 league games, seven points adrift of the play-offs.
A match report can be read by clicking here, also copied and pasted below
Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-1 Cheltenham Town
The Addicks rode their luck on a chilly night at The Valley as two Alfie May penalties saw off his old club Cheltenham Town, writes KEVIN NOLAN.
Back-to-back victories over Carlisle and Cheltenham had been optimistically targeted by Charlton as the six-point springboard to launch a climb towards League One’s promotion play-off positions. That seemed reasonable enough, since both opponents are currently denizens of the division’s depths.
The best laid plans of mice, men and Charlton “gang aft a-gley”, needless to say. The Addicks‘ failure to return from Cumbria with the requisite three points thrust an inconvenient spanner in the works. Losing had been, of course, unthinkable, but that’s how their 1-1 draw felt. It made Tuesday’s home game against Cheltenham a must-win assignment.
Town’s coupon-busting win over promotion-seeking Oxford United, meanwhile, made it three victories in their last five games and served notice that they were nobody’s patsies.
They proved their point at an angst-ridden Valley and gave the Addicks all they could handle before succumbing to Alfie May’s second penalty of a tense evening. May scored his 16th and 17th goals of the season before reminding us, possibly with tongue in cheek, that he now held a narrow edge over Erling Haaland at the top of the goalscoring chart. He’s a bit of a lad is Alfie, but he knows his worth.
Charlton enjoyed the rub of the green in recording their first win over Cheltenham in five previous efforts (four lost, one drawn) but if you can’t be good, then be lucky, so they say.
Both penalties were correctly awarded but were conceded by defenders lured into ill-advised challenges though the threat to their goal was minimal. For the second of them, Michael Appleton’s men were indebted to the eagle-eyed alertness of a linesman, who brought to the attention of unmoved referee Gavin Ward the inadvertent handling of Tyreece Campbell’s cross by Will Ferry on the right byline.
It was rough justice for the stubborn West Countrymen, who offered spirit and organisation in holding their own against an over-anxious home side.
After only 10 minutes, they showed their quality in other areas by taking the lead with a goal of precision and execution. Old stager Liam Sercombe provided the precision with a cross from the right which was perfectly flighted on to Will Goodwin’s head just six yards from goal. The scorer of one of Town’s two goals which floored high-flying Oxford at the weekend, Goodwin executed a sharp downward header which gave Ashley Maynard-Brewer no chance.
Cheltenham led for only six minutes before central defender Lewis Freestone was suckered into a boneheaded attempt to dispossess Miles Leaburn only inches inside the penalty area, still far distant from Luke Southwood’s goal. Leaburn’s quick feet proved too nimble for him and Ward had no hesitation in applying the full force of the law. May brutally dispatched the spotkick down the middle as the keeper plunged hopefully to his left.
Grateful to be level again, the Addicks came close on several occasions to moving in front before the break. Unhappily, Leaburn was no longer around to lend his considerable talents to their efforts, having limped off painfully with what appeared to be a serious hamstring injury.
Young Miles’s 38th-minute replacement was Slobodan Tedic, who immediately brought the best out of Southwood by turning sharply onto Tayo Edun’s pass and shooting low for the bottom-left corner; Town’s keeper responded by diving full length to turn the shot past his post. Southwood again reacted brilliantly to tip Tennai Watson’s volley over the bar and had earned the luck he enjoyed when Corey Blackett-Taylor cut in from the left and struck a low drive against the far post.
It was hardly one-way traffic, of course, and the visitors began the second half aggressively. Vastly experienced Curtis Davies’ left-wing cross was blocked back to him by Scott Fraser but his second effort reached George Lloyd, who headed wastefully over Maynard-Brewer’s crossbar.
As the Addicks struggled to impose themselves, Blackett-Taylor’s contribution had been fitful. The speedster’s smooth acceleration and left wing cross 10 minutes after the break were exemplary, however, and was cleverly volleyed back across goal by May from wide of the far post. From no more than six yards, Tedic awkwardly shinned the gilt-edged chance over the bar.
Blackett-Taylor then blotted his copybook by eluding Sean Long on the left byline but shooting selfishly into Southwood’s hands.
Cheltenham’s last chance fell to Sercombe, whose improvised effort caught a deflection before spinning wildly wide with Maynard-Brewer hopelessly wrongfooted. Five minutes later, their second defensive lapse cost them dearly.
Straining desperately to reach a ball making its way over the right byline, Tyreece Campbell’s lung-busting commitment produced a last-ditch cross, which Ferry slid in to block with both arms flailing above his head. Handball seemed clear to everyone but referee Ward, whose myopia was brought to his attention by the linesman patrolling in front of the East Stand.
May held his nerve and beat Southwood again before breaking his promise not to celebrate in front of his former teammates. He then rubbed more salt into their wounds by taking part in The Valley’s patented tunnel jump after the final whistle.
Alfie’s one of us now, but we’ve suffered at his hands in the recent past. The turnabout seems fair!
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Tennai Watson, Jones, Hector, Edun, Dobson, McGrandles (Louie Watson 61), Fraser (Tyreece Campbell 73), Blackett-Taylor, May, Leaburn (Tedic 38). Not used: Walker, Ness, Asiimwe, Mbick. Booked: Edun.
Cheltenham: Southwood, Long (Williams 87), Bevan, Freestone (Butler-Oyedeji 88), Sercombe, Goodwin, Keena (Hammond 46), Ferry, Chapman (Peupion 88), Lloyd, Davies. Not used: Harris, Bradbury, Horton. Booked: Southwood, Long, Goodwin, Chapman, Ferry.
Referee: Gavin Ward.
No comments:
Post a Comment