Saturday 21st September 2024, Kick-off 15.00
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.50
Attendance: 14.149 (675 away)
Video highlights can be viewed by clicking here
A match report can be read by clicking here , also copied and pasted below
Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 1-2 Blackpool
A poor Charlton performance led to the Addicks conceding two goals in the first half, before a farcical second half. KEVIN NOLAN is still fuming.
Blackpool were the better of two moderate sides and did enough to win this game which disintegrated during a stop-start second half. In the interests of fairness and accuracy, that needs saying.
It also needs to be said that their attitude was an absolute disgrace in a game they made farcical with their shameless play-acting after the break. You could say they enjoyed ill-health, regularly collapsing theatrically and calling for medical assistance which was primed and ever-ready to help.
Twelve added minutes – which were hardly fitting punishment for their anti-football antics – almost cost Steve Bruce’s troupe of thespians the victory their first half superiority had earned them. Halfway through them, substitute Luke Berry reduced Charlton’s arrears by prodding home the mess made by Harry Tyrer of dealing with Conor Coventry’s cross.
And with almost the last kick, the same player came agonisingly close to equalising from a free-kick, which Tyrer saved splendidly at the foot of his right hand post.
Before Mr Hyde replaced Dr Jekyll for the second session, the visitors played confidently and were good value for the two-goal lead they enjoyed with their tea at half-time. It might have been more but for Will Mannion’s early heroics in keeping out Kyle Joseph’s point-blank shot and reacting instinctively to parry Olly Casey’s effort to convert a juicy rebound. But there was little the Addicks’ keeper could do to save his side when Gassan Ahadme, anxious to help out, headed Rob Apter’s cross into his own goal.
Nathan Jones’s chaps were still absorbing the self-inflicted body blow when they found themselves two down. And it was hardly surprising that the scorer was none other than Albie Morgan, late of this parish.
Looking leaner and fitter since moving to the coast, Morgan was making a constructive contribution to Blackpool’s crisp, attractive combination play before he added a rare goal to their cause. Pouncing on an inviting loose ball as a left-sided attack petered out, he drilled a first-time drive into the bottom left corner. Albie was not, by the way, part of the shady shenanigans which ultimately destroyed this game. He was brought up to play the game competitively but fairly.
One of Blackpool’s chief offenders was Joseph, a rangy centre forward, who operated with socks rolled down and was a consistent nuisance to Charlton until he changed his role to that of chief pantomime villain. During one lengthy second-half interlude he lay in apparent agony following an innocuous clash but was studiously ignored by harassed referee Charles Breakspear as play continued.
Denied the pain relief he apparently sorely required, he sprang back to life and sprinted back to lend a hand defensively. He should have been encouraged to continue his run into the visiting dressing room, with a red card to send him on his way.
It’s tempting, of course, to blame Breakspear for the Tangerines’ skulduggery. Tempting but unfair. Referees can hardly be expected to decide whether injury is genuine or fake. He is hardly qualified to judge the difference. Some of his in-play decisions were, however, frankly incomprehensible, which is another matter entirely.
Beaten for the first time at home this season, meanwhile, Charlton showed little imagination in dealing with a side who have made little impact on League One so far. Coventry and centre-back Lloyd Jones were their best players but there were disappointing contributions from, among others, skipper Greg Docherty and Allan Campbell. Up front the hard-working Ahadme and Daniel Kanu made little impression.
The 70th-minute arrivals of Matty Godden and the inevitable Chuks Aneke added spark, with Aneke announcing himself by heading Macaulay Gillesphey’s cross narrowly over the bar. At the other end, Mannion continued to distinguish himself with an excellent save to tip CJ Hamilton’s goal-bound daisycutter on a post.
With time running out, Breakspear was given one clear-cut opportunity to redeem himself, but remained impassive as Berry’s hard shot was clearly stopped by a defensive hand. He had already seen nothing wrong with the blatant shove which propelled Ahadme harmlessly under a dropping ball inside Blackpool’s penalty area.
It’s fair to say that if Breakspear ever officiates again at The Valley, it will be a day too soon; the same could be said of Bruce and his Seasiders.
And if that sounds like the complaint of a sore loser, you got me. Because that’s exactly what it is!
Charlton: Mannion, Ramsay, Gillesphey, Jones, Edmonds-Green, Coventry, Small (Tyreece Campbell 37), Docherty (Anderson 64), Allan Campbell (Berry 64), Ahadme (Aneke 70), Kanu (Godden 70). Not used: Maynard-Brewer, Potts. Booked: Docherty, Edmonds-Green.
Blackpool: Tyrer, Husband, Gabriel (Pennington 79), Evans, Morgan (Coulson 85), Joseph (Rhodes 76), Ballard (Beesley 76), Casey, Hamilton, Offiah. Apter (Carey 85).
Not used: O’Donnell, Embleton. Booked: Rhodes.
Referee: Charles Breakspear.
Attendance: 14,149 (675 from Blackpool)
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