Charlton Athletic 2 v 0 Stevenage

Saturday 25th February 2012
Football League One
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 26,546
Match Rating: 4

An all too rare return visit to the Valley - indeed, my first Saturday afternoon visit since I allowed my season ticket to lapse after Charlton's relegation from the Championship three seasons ago, inspired by yet another imaginative offer  by the club of reducing all ticket prices to just £5.00.

Description of The Valley can be found during a previous visit here, and I took the opportunity to choose a seat in what is usually the most expensive part of the stadium, in the Upper Tier of the West Stand, virtually on the half way line. In my opinion, Charlton have always produced good, interesting programmes, and so today's 60 page issue proved.

Even as a naturally sceptical fan of Charlton, promotion to the Championship is looking increasingly likely, as they still find themselves well clear of the chasing pack - indeed, they have been on top of the table constantly since mid September. Going into this game, Charlton were seven points clear of second placed Sheffield United, and twelve points clear of third placed Sheffield Wednesday. There has been a relative blip recently. Although unbeaten so far in eight league games in 2012, they have "only" picked up three draws - against three lesser teams in Bury, Tranmere Rovers and Rochdale - in their last four games. Stevenage have been the real surprise package this season, inside the play-offs and currently in sixth place, a position they have occupied since Boxing Day. Since I last watched Stevenage just over a month ago, when they caused an upset by beating Reading at the Madejski Stadium in the FA Cup Third Round - a competition they are still in, after drawing 0-0 with Tottenham Hotspur in the Fifth Round last weekend - they have lost their manager Graham Westley. When the two teams met at Broadhall Way earlier in the season, Stevenage inflicted the first of just two defeats all season on Charlton with a 1-0 victory.

With the game less than 1,000 short of a sell-out, the first half was a rather dull affair, with Stevenage always looking to break up play and disrupt Charlton's play, whereas Charlton seemed to surprisingly lack ideas. Both sides had half chances, but a goalless scoreline at half time was of little surprise.

Within four minutes of the restart however and the deadlock was broken, and in fine style too. A long throw in into the box was headed out of the box, falling at the feet of centre back Michael Morrison, who controlled the ball before unleashing a 20 yard rocket into the top corner. The game completely changed from this point, as Charlton dominated the rest of the match and Stevenage had the air of a team aiming for damage limitation. They had numerous golden chances to score, most notably top scorer Bradley Wright-Phillips, who had not scored in his last eleven games but he could easily have had a hat-trick today. In the end he had to settle for the one goal, scored in the 64th minute, when he raced wide to the edge of the box, beat the defender to the ball and his cross-shot was turned in by Ronnie Henry on the goalline, although Wright-Phillips' shot was going in anyway.

Charlton Athletic 1 v 0 Den Bosch

Tuesday 27th July 2011
Pre-season Friendly

The Valley, Charlton
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 3,951
Match Rating: 2

A long overdue return to The Valley this evening to see how the team I support, Charlton Athletic, is shaping up for the new season. Reading, of the Championship, were originally scheduled to be the friendly opponents this evening, however as the League Cup First Round drew the exact same fixture to be played in early August, and so FC Den Bosch, from the Netherlands, were late replacements to fulfil the fixture.

Tonight’s fixture was given a little extra edge as some silverware would be up for grabs, as a trophy, The People’s Cup, was donated by Den Bosch fans to be awarded to tonight’s winners, in recognition of similar turbulent paths both clubs have experienced over the years, both clubs being saved from extinction to a large degree by efforts of the fans.

It has been quite a hectic summer for Charlton, with no fewer than 13 new signings made, with the same number leaving the club. Indeed, tonight’s starting line-up – which presumably will closely resemble the starting line-up for when then league season starts – features seven players who have been signed up in this close season. Den Bosch currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of football in the Netherlands, where they have played since 2005 when they were relegated from the top flight. Last season they finished eighth and so qualified for the end of season promotion play-offs, but were knocked out in the second round. They have already played two other English sides this summer, drawing 2-2 with Hartlepool on neutral territory in the Netherlands before losing 1-3 at home to Ipswich Town..

Unfortunately, this was a typical friendly game, certainly throughout the first half, with lots of short passing and a very low tempo with very little urgency. The game was quite balanced though, with both sides fashioning some reasonable chances, mostly from long-range though, and it was little surprise that the scoreline was goalless at half-time.

The second half was slightly more entertaining, and Charlton had much more possession and chances, hitting the woodwork three times and sandwiched in the middle was the game’s only goal on 76 minutes, but what a terrific goal it was. Johnnie Jackson played a long ball down the touchline, which Bradley Wright-Phillips took towards goal, and with the Den Bosch keeper coming out to close the angle down, Wright-Phillips lobbed him perfectly to find the net via the inside of the far post. That goal proved sufficient for Charlton to lift the cup, with Den Bosch barely threatening for the rest of the game. So, a low-key friendly evening where the entertainment was extremely limited, although amongst the plus points were Danny Green, Paul Hayes and Dale Stephens in particularly catching the eye amongst Charlton’s new signings. Credit also to the Den Bosch fans, who had a small but very vocal following of 136, and credit to them for raising money to give to a local Charlton charity. 

Charlton Athletic 1 v 2 Brighton and Hove Albion

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
Football League 1
The Valley, Charlton
Admission: £17.00 (North Stand Upper)
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 17508
Match Rating: 2

It was the case of return of the prodigal son this evening…after being a season ticket holder at Charlton for many years and a few wretchedly dire performances too many from the Addicks, this was my first return to The Valley since allowing my season ticket to lapse at the end of last season. Some things never change…a dire midweek performance at home against a team, on paper at least, Charlton really should have beaten.

I purchased my ticket from the Charlton website – not particularly necessary these days with every game being well below capacity, but this does ensure that I could choose exactly where I wanted to sit – in the Upper North Stand, behind the goal, with an excellent view of the pitch, although as is common in the North Stand, the seating is cramped and uncomfortable. The Valley is an excellent facility these days, at least on three sides, which all have modern grandstands with excellent views and nothing to obscure the view of the pitch. However the fourth side, behind the goal which accommodates away supporters is certainly showing its age and looks somewhat out of place compared with the other stands.

Charlton would have had to be considered favourites going into this game, up in fourth place in the league and with Brighton struggling in the relegation zone. However that does not tell the true story about the current form of the two sides with Charlton having recorded just one win in their last six games, all against very average opposition, whereas Brighton were unlucky to lose to Norwich and even more unlucky to concede a last minute equaliser at Leeds, and are certainly a much improved outfit since Gus Poyet took over.

On a cold, wet and misty evening, which claimed most non-league games in the south-east this evening, the pitch was in, by modern standards, a poor condition, in places extremely muddy causing the ball to hold up markedly. The game started as might be expected, Charlton having most of the possession although Brighton always looked moderately threatening whenever they ventured forwards. On the half hour, shortly after Charlton had two shots blocked in quick succession, Brighton's Spanish full-back, Inigo Calderon stormed forward from inside his own half almost unopposed before unleashing a powerful low drive to the keeper's right from 20 yards out, helped by a sizeable deflection off of the Charlton defender, Miguel Llera. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, Charlton having more possession and some good chances to score without ever really looking convincing, whilst Brighton sporadically looked dangerous on the break. On 78 minutes, Brighton seemingly put the game beyond doubt, when a poor clearance from the Charlton keeper, Rob Elliott, was seized upon and Elliot Bennett fired home a powerful drive into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. Charlton managed to pull a goal back through Akpo Sodje, when he latched on to a long ball and poked past the Brighton keeper. However, this was almost the last kick of the game and on the final whistle, the Charlton players were subjected to a chorus of loud boos, which seemed fair after a performance that seemed to lack passion, cohesion and concentration. As a result of this game, Charlton lost further ground on the automatic promotion places, whereas Brighton pulled out of the relegation zone.