Saturday 19th October 2024, Kick-off 15.00
EFL League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £4.00
Attendance: 13,711 (1,242 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 Stockport County
Stockport County were Saturday’s visitors at The Valley, but they didn’t endear themselves to our match reporter KEVIN NOLAN.
Both Stockport County and Charlton Athletic have been around the block a few times, but have made it almost their business to avoid each other, like ships passing in the night.
They have met on ten occasions, only six of which have been league games.
Their paltry record of rivalry has been largely explained by the company they have kept. The Addicks have operated at a superior level to the Hatters and kept it that way until two recent promotions established Saturday’s visitors as their equals.
There were times during this exercise in frustration when County looked on course to prove themselves as even more equal than their frustrated hosts.
A ninth-minute lead, provided by Louie Barry’s efficient penalty, seemed likely to prove enough for Dave Challinor – he of the record-breaking long throw – to guide his rule-bending side to all three points.
A second-half equaliser forced home by first-half substitute Rarmani Edmonds-Green spared local blushes but the overall feeling at The Valley was of a golden opportunity missed.
Edmonds-Green’s first goal for Charlton did, however, scupper County’s shameless ambition to choke the life out of these sorry proceedings.
Time-wasting has always been an unavoidable part of the beautiful game but in the hands of such sophisticated practitioners, it has become almost an artform.
We thought the recent visit of Blackpool had set new boundaries but cynical Stockport proved us wrong. They have even rehearsed to perfection the practice of colliding with each other and forcing the referee to summon first aid for supposed head injuries which inevitably amounted to nothing. We understand their clash with Blackpool will be played without a ball and is to be billed as a Festival of Northern Soullessness.
A word of support for referee Tom Reeves, by the way. His was an impossible task but he actually booked three of the visitors for variously delaying the game. The third of those cautions was issued to centre-half Fraser Horsfall, who was found guilty of impeding Will Mannion’s quick-release attempt to clear his lines.
The booking came home to haunt Horsfall when he scythed down Macaulay Gillesphey later on and was sent off for a second yellow card. Too late to materially affect the outcome, Horsfall’s dismissal did at least vindicate Reeves to some extent.
Making a deceptively bright start, County showed briefly they had more to offer than the dark arts. They were gifted their ominously early lead when Lewis Bate’s hopeful punt down the middle brought chaos to Charlton’s central defence and lured Mannion from his line to deal with the unnecessary danger.
The panic-stricken keeper ruthlessly removed Nick Powell from the awkward equation by laying him out, leaving an initially hesitant Reeves little alternative but to console the stricken striker with a painfully-earned penalty. Barry made no mistake from the spot.
Finding themselves unexpectedly ahead, the visitors’ attitude changed dramatically. What they had they clearly meant to hold and they made no bones about the methods they intended to employ in realising their ambitions. They virtually disappeared as an attacking force but their defending was stubborn and pragmatic. They also rode their luck occasionally as Charlton squandered several acceptable chances.
Not that all of the Addicks’ efforts amounted to misses. Only five minutes after Barry’s goal, the impressive Tyreece Campbell picked up Karoy Anderson’s pass, cut in from the left and forced Corey Addai into a smart low save. From the resultant corner, Anderson met Terry Taylor’s delivery with a sharp header which brought County’s towering keeper into quickfire action again.
Charlton were beginning to fancy their chances when, shortly before the half-hour mark, they lost their buccaneering right-back Kayne Ramsay following an innocent clash with Jay Mingi. Frankly, the interval arrived as a relief to Nathan Jones’ struggling side. A second half reset was vital. And it eventually paid off.
Another of Tyreece Campbell’s crisp efforts was deflected narrowly wide before Charlton’s fortunes abruptly took a turn for the better. A short corner routine initiated by Thomas set up Anderson to test Addai from close range but the keeper’s resistance was finally ended by Edmonds- Green, who rammed home the rebound. Charlton’s all-business reaction to their equaliser promised more.
Still sticking to their negative, time-stifling policy, meanwhile, Stockport seemed there for the taking as their erstwhile victims sensed weakness.
Substitute Miles Leaburn, still finding his way back from long term injury, posed fresh problems but fired a last gasp chance across goal. There was to be no last-gasp victory but losing to another of these anti-football rabbles was unthinkable!
This report salutes 105-year-old Charlton fan Jack Simmons, who attended Saturday’s event. Way to go, young Jack!
Charlton: Mannion, Ramsay (Edmonds-Green 37), Gillesphey, Alex Mitchell, Tyreece Campbell, Docherty (Leaburn 62). Taylor (Dixon 90+1), Edwards. Anderson, Godden, Allan Campbell (Berry 46). Not used: Maynard-Brewer, Small, M’bick. Booked: Anderson, Nathan Jones.
Stockport: Addai, Touray, Bate, Horsfall, Powell (Fevrier 64), Pye, Connolly, Mingi, Wootton (Fiorini 79), Barry (Diamond 78), Norwood (Bailey 65). Not used: Hinchliffe, Huges, Olaofe. Booked: Pye, Norwood, Fiorini, Horsfall (2) sent off.
Referee: Tom Reeves.
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