Saturday 7th September 2024, Kick-off 15.00
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 13,569 (616 away)
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 1-1 Rotherham United
Charlton fans endured a dour draw at The Valley on Saturday – but our match reporter KEVIN NOLAN found plenty of reasons to be cheerful.
This earnest but largely undistinguished game was lifted out of the commonplace by two majestic strikes of comparable quality.
And if Chuks Aneke’s 72nd-minute equaliser was upstaged by the sheer ferocity of Liam Kelly’s opener for Rotherham no more than a quarter hour earlier, his curled finish had aesthetic merits all its own.
Both goals belonged in more polished surroundings than were on offer inside a surprisingly patient Valley.
There was, to be accurate, another reason this otherwise forgettable encounter was worth the price of admission. It may seem churlish to pick on the visitors’ manager — who illegally operated outside the coaching area – but, to be fair, Steve Evans enjoys the attention.
He kept up a non-stop stream of dissent aimed at referee Simon Mather but directed in the reluctant ear of fourth official David Rock, who eventually cracked and grassed him up to his boss.
Evans’ customary booking was par for the course, but was not the only entertainment he inadvertently provided on Saturday.
Step forward the programme editor, who rummaged around for a picture of the Great Scot in the days before his admirable self control took effect and came up with a mischievous shot of Evans in his pie-and-chips pomp. It catches him mid-rant and presumably looking forward to his next snack. He was certainly twice the man he is these days. but still spreads himself wide.
Say what you like about the peripatetic Evans – and almost everyone has – but his ability to galvanise underachieving clubs is beyond question. In his second stint as Rotherham boss, he took over the relegation-bound Millers at the end of last season, and on the evidence of this well-organised if dull performance, they are in safe hands.
Two defeats sandwiched a draw at the start of the current campaign but the ship has been steadied by last week’s important victory over Huddersfield and also by the point they took back to South Yorkshire from Charlton.
But enough about Rotherham and their larger-than-life manager. The focus instead must be on the Addicks and their own animated guv’nor.
It’s safe to say that neither Nathan Jones nor the home crowd, which shifted uneasily as their heroes struggled to impose themselves on a side not expected to be among League One’s front runners, were remotely satisfied with the point they extricated from a game they were expected to win comfortably.
There were, of course, positives to be drawn from a not altogether featureless performance. It’s becoming clear that operating in front of capable goalkeeper Will Mannion is an already solid defence, which is pragmatic, ruthless and commendably committed to the overall cause.
They were breached here by a thunderous strike, which defied logic and could have happened anywhere and to anyone.
The Addicks have, in Conor Coventry and new skipper Greg Docherty, an indefatigable midfield partnership which is probably the peer of any found currently in League One.
Experience is added by Luke Berry, whose 59th-minute replacement Allan Campbell will almost certainly be heard from as the season develops. Campbell marked his Charlton debut by assisting Aneke’s point-saver.
Goals, as always it seems, will be hard to come by and, to date have been spread among five scorers, only two of them recognised forwards.
One of those forwards is that estimable wrecking-ball Aneke, whose introduction on the hour brought its usual impact. Replaced by the
Addicks’ super-sub, meanwhile, Gassane Ahadme worked tirelessly but has rarely looked like scoring in five starts this season. Neither he nor Matty Godden, himself replaced by Tyreece Campbell, made much impression.
Similarly ineffective, the visitors seemed as unlikely to score until Kelly took up the slack. A summer arrival, the former Scottish international picked up an innocuous ball inside Charlton’s half, surged forward and let rip a full-blooded drive from fully 30 yards.
His speculation was handsomely rewarded as the far top corner of Mannion’s net was required to halt the progress of his one-in-a-million effort.
Akeke’s leveller, slightly more than a quarter hour later, was less awesome but just as potent. Most of his goals in Charlton’s colours have been scored with his head but the big man is deceptively skilful on the deck.
Taking Allan Campbell’s short pass in his stride, he found the net from outside the penalty area, with a cleverly curled right-footed shot which comprehensively beat ex-Addick Dillon Phillips on its way inside the top right corner.
It’s a crying shame that Chuks’ imposing physique is regularly undermined by recurrent injuries. He’s the real deal.
No stranger to a booking himself, Jones was left with more questions than answers from a draw which was probably a fair result on a mainly disappointing day.
Like the rest of us, he is referred to Page 52 of the official programme. If that doesn’t cheer him up, chances are he’s beyond help!
Charlton: Mannion, Ramsay, Mitchell, Jones, Gillesphey, Coventry. Berry (A Campbell 59), Ahadme (Aneke 59), Docherty, Godden (T Campbell 59),
Small. Not used: Maynard-Brewer, Potts, Edmonds-Green, Watson. Booked: Mitchell.
Rotherham: Phillips, Rafferty, Kelly (McDonald 76), James, Powell, Nombe (McWilliams 76), Clarke-Harris (Hugill 76), Wilks (Osong 83), Odoffin, Humphreys, McCart. Not used: Dawson, Bramall, Hungbo. Booked: Evans.
Referee: Simon Mather.
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