EFL Championship
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: Season Ticket
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 18,338 (2,680 away)
Well, a week can indeed be a long time in football. It has been difficult to remain overly optimistic about Charlton's fortunes in the short term, due to a chronic and seemingly ever increasing injury list which has resulted in being a man short on the subs bench, and having to play youngsters hastily recalled from loans at non league clubs. And the long term future looked as dismal as ever, still in the vice like grip of Roland Duchâtelet's disastrous and incomprehensible ownership. But then out of the blue, it was announced that terms have been agreed for the sale of the club to a consortium including backing from Abu Dhabi. Still subject to approval by the EFL, and my inherent lack of optimism towards all things Charlton tells me to not get too excited until the deal is fully ratified. And it is also true that the new consortium might not live up to the hopes and dreams of fans, or indeed their all-positive statement emphasising the importance of the fans and bringing stability to the club.
This game would be the second consecutive Saturday that Charlton would play at home, and the second time that kick off was switched to 12.30, to accommodate the game being shown live on Sky Sports. That is never a good omen for Charlton, with a terrible record in front of the cameras at The Valley. Charlton's dramatic downturn in form, assisted by the crippling injury list, saw them come into this game in 17th place in the table, having won six and drawn five of their 18 league games, still an equal points distance (seven) away from the play-offs and the relegation zone, but they lost an important game against a club below them, Luton Town, 2-1 in midweek despite taking an early lead. Sheffield Wednesday came into this game in 10th place, four points away from the play-offs, following seven wins and five draws from their 18 league games, but were not in the greatest form, having not won in their last five league games, picking up two points.
A match report of this game can be viewed by clicking here, and brief video highlights by clicking here.
I had been tempted to leave this game about 5 minutes before the end, as it was extremely tight to make it to kick-off for the next game I planned to watch today at Erith Town, but with the game very much in the balance, I decided to stay until stoppage time. Not the best decision in hindsight, but although I did indeed miss kick off at the Erith game, it was only by a couple of minutes.
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