Saturday 3rd February 2024, Kick-off 15.00
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 13,955 (1,070 away)
A match report of this game can be read by clicking here, also copied and pasted below
Brief video highlights can be watched by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 0-1 Derby County
With prospective manager Nathan Jones watching, the Addicks fell further towards the relegation zone with defeat to Derby County at The Valley. KEVIN NOLAN has some wise words for the new man.
That familiar, fatalistic tendency to blow off one of their own feet came home to haunt Charlton at The Valley on Saturday, where run-of-the-mill Derby County did just enough to continue their quest for automatic promotion from the horrors of League One.
Their narrow victory did their hopes no harm – just as surely as it piled on the agony for their hapless victims.
Sharing their visitors’ hunger to quit a division in which they have settled as reluctantly permanent members, the Addicks now face the very real possibility that their exit might be facing downward into the twilight zone of League Two, in which their pedigree and history will be of no consequence to the natives. The situation is serious.
Having made an encouraging start to a scrappy first half, the managerless home side, not for the first time this season, faltered just past the half hour mark and were fatally undone by another of those lapses into vagueness, which has so often blighted this nightmare of a season.
Turning clear of traffic outside his penalty area, Macaulay Gillesphey suffered one of those brain fades which routinely afflicts Charlton defenders. As if hypnotised, the recent newcomer passed backwards to the feet of Max Bird, who wasted no time in playing Nathaniel Mendez-Laing through a wrongfooted posse of defenders. The veteran’s composed finish into the bottom left corner was virtually his last contribution before giving way to substitute Tom Barkhuizen.
Mendez-Laing’s goal was a rare highlight in an otherwise pedestrian first period, from which Curtis Fleming’s temporary charges should have emerged on terms with their high-flying guests. But yet again, their chronic inability to maintain concentration ruined their chances.
Somewhere among a disenchanted crowd, prospective new manager Nathan Jones must surely have sensed the mood of victimhood which undermines both players and crowd at this critical time. Eleven games without a win means he has his work cut out for him – assuming he can be persuaded to take it on.
There were few other chances for either side before the break, the earliest of them Alfie May’s accurate volley, which was efficiently blocked by Eiran Cashin. In the absence of calf-injury victim George Dobson, May was wearing the captain’s armband and, as always, gave it everything he had.
Dobson’s hopefully brief period on the sideline, meanwhile, pleased his admittedly few detractors who will no doubt dispute any suggestion that Charlton’s prospects would have been greatly improved by his wholehearted effort and considerable skill. But then, moaners gotta moan… grizzlers gonna grizzle.
Apart from their gifted goal, the Rams were toothless. The tame header which Sonny Bradley directed goalwards from Conor Hourihanes’s corner was comfortably saved by Ashley Maynard-Brewer, whose usual face mask was complemented by a dazzling white head bandage, which made him a ringer for the Invisible Man.
Similarly shot-shy, Charlton’s next chance arrived shortly after the interval. A shrewd pass from Ramani Edmonds-Green, slipped inside Louie Sibley, sent Tennai Watson scampering to the right byline but his low cross spun off Bradley and bobbled to safety wide of Josh Vickers’ left hand post.
The Addicks came close again when Gillesphey’s deep cross from the left touchline was flicked on by half-time substitute Daniel Kanu but alertly turned over the bar by Vickers.
At the other end, Bird’s brilliant solo run, carrying him from the halfway line into the home penalty area, deserved better than the wingback’s low drive, which beat Maynard-Brewer but passed narrowly wide of the far post.
Charlton had one final shot in their armoury. Hourihane’s foul on Louie Watson conceded a free kick which Conor Coventry delivered into the “mixer” and was inconclusively cleared to May, loitering with intent outside the penalty area. May’s low volley was again bravely stopped by Cashin and that really was all she wrote for the frustrated Addicks. Except for a word about Louie Watson.
The Luton Town loanee is warmly regarded by most Valley fans but was clearly no favourite of Michael Appleton. The latter’s departure promised a new start for Louie but it appears he also lacks the approval of interim head coach Curtis Fleming. So here’s a tip – free and gratis – for Nathan Jones. Do yourself a favour. Find a place for L. Watson. The kid can play a bit.
Meanwhile, welcome to the hotspot, which happens to be three piffling points above the fourth-from-bottom trapdoor and with the small problem of a relegation shoot-out at Reading on Saturday.
Five gets you ten, it gets described as a “six pointer”. Best get stuck in ASAP!
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, T Watson (Campbell 78), Ness, Thomas Gillesphey (Ramsay 68), Edun (Kanu 46), Bakinson (L Watson 78), Coventry, Edmonds-Green, Ladapo (Fiorini 90+1), May. Not used: Isted, Jones. Booked: Edun, Ramsay.
Derby: Vickers, Hourihane, Bradley, Cashin, Bird, Collins, Mendez-Laing (Barkhuisen 38), Sibley (Elder 72), Ward (Nyambe 89), Adams (Thompson 72), Nelson. Not used: Wildsmith, Wilson, Smith. Booked Vickers, Hourihane, Barkhuisen, Cashin.
Referee: Ed Duckworth.
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