Tuesday 13th February 2024, Kick-off 19.45
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 13,955 (1,070 away)
A match report can be read by clicking here, also copied and pasted below.
Brief video highlights can be viewed by clicking here , and extended highlights by clicking here
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 1-1 Lincoln City
A second-half revival saw the troubled Addicks snatch a point at The Valley on Tuesday night. KEVIN NOLAN was there for Nathan Jones’s first home match as manager.
This dogged point which, under different circumstances, might have been greeted with a degree of satisfaction, hardly improved Charlton’s chances of beating the drop into League Two. Their winless streak, which was extended to 14 games, stretches back to November, when fellow strugglers Cheltenham Town were beaten 2-1 at The Valley.
A murderous upcoming schedule, which includes trips to Bolton Wanderers and Derby County, with a visit from table-topping Portsmouth sandwiched between them, challenges even the most upbeat of supporters to remain optimistic. Both Wanderers and County won comfortably in SE7 while Pompey have a score to settle with their bogey team and will be thirsting for revenge in a fortnight’s time. The immediate prospects are bleak.
A subdued but largely uncritical crowd of just over 12,000 watched in funereal silence as their new-look team, under Nathan Jones’ week-old stewardship, edged a dreary first half but still contrived to fall behind before the interval.
On the subject of streaks, Charlton’s last clean sheet was achieved when Reading were spanked 4-0 way back on October 21, a humiliation for which the Biscuitmen extracted retribution at the weekend. Sure enough, the Addicks conceded eight minutes before the break to visitors who until then had appeared content to go through pacific motions.
The goal, almost inevitably scored by an ex-Addick, resulted from a rare error by reinstalled captain George Dobson.
Actually, it was his second mistake, the first a wayward header which set up Ted Bishop to shoot wastefully wide of Harry Isted’s left hand post. In the 37th minute, Dobson was again responsible for a weakly headed clearance of Sean Roughan’s right-wing cross but was punished this time by Reeco Hackett, who took a touch before hammering an unstoppable drive into the near corner.
Dobson had been a surprise choice to start, with the rumours and counter-rumours about his future still buzzing on the various media outlets. He was not his usual all-action self but still put his foot in and never shirked a challenge. Like most footballers, George’s merits divide opinion but even his detractors acknowledge the 100-per-cent effort he applies to each and every game, in which he is involved. His return to the colours was probably, in part at least, down to Jones’s influence.
The new gaffer has wisely made it a condition of engagement that he intends to manage, not merely coach. The disrespectful handling of his skipper’s situation would surely have incurred his displeasure.
Another welcome addition to Saturday’s bench was the talismanic Chuks Aneke, a powerful blend of physicality and skill who galvanised the crowd and upset the complacent Imps. Aneke relieved an out-of-sorts Alfie May just past the hour mark and, as always, this force of attacking nature changed the dynamic.
Suddenly the visitors began to fray at the edges and less than ten minutes later, the Addicks were level.
Charlton’s precious point-saver was claimed by Freddie Ladapo, another substitute – but one anxious to make a positive impression after his five previous appearances had won him few friends locally.
His goal was Route One in both conception and execution, owing much to Aneke’s hustling and bustling of Paudie O’Connor as they tussled under a hopeful punt over the top. The loose ball broke to Ladapo, who gleefully buried a brutal shot past Lukas Jensen, a clinical finish which will hopefully provide its author with a confidence booster.
It also had the virtue of silencing over 500 visitors who had assured us that Charlton were “going down”.
Trite, hackneyed and derivative though the taunts might have been, there’s no disputing their potential accuracy. When a creditable point was deservedly earned at Barnsley as recently as December 16, the Addicks were comfortably ensconced in 10th place, safe and apparently secure in mid-table doldrums, while blithely oblivious to the treacherous currents about to suck them under. Since then, they have plunged into 20th position, one point above Port Vale, who have three games in hand.
It’s a statement of the bleedin’ obvious but Charlton have forgotten how to win a game of football. “Useful” points are no longer of use. Winning is all that matters now. The process begins in Bolton on Saturday.
Mindlessly optimistic, of course, if not a trifle ironic. But we live in hope…
Charlton: Isted, Tennai Watson, Jones, Thomas, Edmonds-Green, Dobson, Bakinson (Camara 71), Anderson, Ramsay (Edun 82), Kanu (Ladapo 71), May (Aneke 64). Not used: Maynard-Brewer., Campbell, Gillesphey. Booked: Kanu, Anderson, Camara.
Lincoln: Jensen. Sorensen. Erhahon, 0’Connor, Roughan, Mitchell, Bishop (Moylan 57), Mandroiu (Duffy 90), Draper (House 57), Hackett, Taylor (Makama 90).
Not used: Wright, Eyoma. Booked: Erhahon, Roughan, House.
Referee: David Rock.
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