Charlton Athletic 1 v 0 Brentford

EFL Championship

The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £5.00
Attendance: 16,771 (2,250 away)

Today I made my second trip to The Valley in four days, full of optimism after a terrific performance by the Addicks on Wednesday evening, when they were very unlucky to only take a point from the match. There was some drama for me getting to the game - arriving at my local train station, I then realised I did not have my season ticket on me, and so had to return home. Missing my intended train, catching the next one would have meant me missing kick-off, and so I d to drive 20 minutes to another station down the line, that is served by more frequent trains and would allow me to arrive at The Valley about half hour before kick-off.

I had watched today's visitors less than two weeks ago, when I visited Griffin Park for a League Cup Round One game against Cambridge United, a game they lost on penalties. There was certainly nothing to fear from a Charlton perspective that night, although it was a youthful team who played that night, with just three players starting both games. In truth, Brentford have a decent team these days, finishing eleventh in the Championship last season and are widely tipped to finish in the play-offs this season, although they have had an average start to their season, winning one and drawing one of their four league games before this one. And they may not have helped their cause towards the end of the transfer window, when they sold star striker Neal Maupay, who scored 28 goals in 49 appearances last season to Brighton. A little extra spice was added to this fixture when they tried on several occasions on transfer deadline day to secure Charlton's talisman Lyle Taylor, but their eventual reported bid of £4 million was rejected. Today's programme was combined with the club's official handbook. As a Charlton fan, it is an excellent, very informative publication, but I always think it is is very harsh on the visiting team on the day the club that does this, having to pay £5 for a programme when half of it is not relevant or of interest to them.

A standout feature of this game was the intense heat, with temperatures nudging close to 30 degrees, and so perhaps it was inevitable that this game would lack the intensity of Wednesday's game. A match review of this game can be viewed by clicking on the following link https://www.cafc.co.uk/news/view/5d6159a339a95/report-charlton-1-brentford-0

Video highlights can be viewed by clicking on the following link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1MIinXQ8xnw

In some ways, this was the complete opposite to Wednesday's game against Nottingham Forest. Whereas Charlton played ever so well that night, full of energy and attacking intent, today was more of a backs to the walls affair, as Brentford dominated every statistic from the match, apart from the most important one. Although they played a lovely patient, passing game, too often there was no end product, and they are surely ruing their failure to replace their star striker, their play lacking a cutting edge. Although Charlton were "battered" for long periods, they defended well, heroically at times, and combined with clinically dispatching one of their rare chances at goal, a case could be made that this was a deserved three points for the home team. In any case, viewed with Wednesday night's game, a four point return was about right, and with it, the fantasy of Charlton's return to the Championship on a shoestring budget continues, still unbeaten after five league games and ending the weekend in third place in the table.