Snow and ice led to a “will they, won’t they?” saga over whether Saturday’s match against Bristol Rovers would take place. In the end, they might as well have not bothered. KEVIN NOLAN watched the Addicks plumb new depths.
Gathering pace as you do when you hit the slippery slopes, Charlton’s headlong descent down the League One table left them, at teatime on Saturday, just four points above Forest Green Rovers, who currently occupy the topmost of four relegation positions.
The Addicks’ steady decline is no longer merely embarrassing. It has become a deeply worrying process, which needs to be urgently addressed before the threat of relegation becomes not so much a threat as a grim, stark reality.
It’s to be hoped that caretaker manager Anthony Hayes is shown patience by heavy metal owner Thomas Sandgaard while he’s in temporary charge of the playing side. After fulsomely welcoming Ben Garner as the visionary who would mastermind an overall renaissance, Sandgaard allowed the new man just 20 games before deciding that, er, perhaps he wasn’t the right bloke for the job after all.
The very real possibility exists that the owner himself knows diddly-squat about football, which in itself is nothing to apologise for. Except, of course, when he insists that he – and his kinfolk – know best and must be obeyed. Buying a dog and barking yourself springs to mind.
This latest reverse was nothing short of disastrous. During a first half of almost total superiority, the Addicks played some nifty stuff, made several chances but retired at the interval just one slender goal in front.
Barely one of the 11,201 home fans (yeah, right!) believed that their lead was sufficient. Bitter experience has taught them that their heroes have in them the capacity to devise new, imaginative ways to screw up. Their abject lack of confidence was, hardly for the first time, fully justified; but on this occasion, some particularly jaw-dropping ineptness reared its head.
Making a smooth, confident start, Charlton threatened to swamp their overawed visitors – to turn off the Gas, so to speak. Warmly-regarded goalkeeper James Belshaw was quickly in action, saving a point-blank header from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, then diving full-length to turn aside a low shot from the Crystal Palace loanee.
Belshaw further distinguished himself with a sprawling save to keep out Jayden Stockley’s effort, making painful contact with an upright as he clawed the ball to safety. An instinctive two-footed block kept out Jack Payne’s four-yard cert at the expense of a corner, but the defiant keeper was about to run out of luck.
Taking current responsibility for Charlton’s setpieces, Scott Fraser sent the resultant outswinger to the far post, where central defender Ryan Inniss headed back across goal through a ruck of players and found the bottom-left corner. It was a dream start to an afternoon which was to turn into the stuff of nightmares for the fatally indecisive Inniss.
Rovers had scarcely featured as an attacking force, their only contribution a swerving drive from Antony Evans, which drew a smart, diving save from Ashley Maynard-Brewer. But they had survived to fight another day and were a different proposition in the second half.
An old adversary of the Addicks was, gallingly, at the forefront of their recovery. Coming off the bench to replace Luke McCormick on 55 minutes, John Marquis was greeted with the chorus of derision he has come to expect at The Valley. His Millwall connection ensured him a hostile reception, while some sharp exchanges during the 2019 play-off semi-final encounters – during which he missed his spot-kick in a tense penalty shoot-out – no doubt still rankle.
It’s safe to say that Marquis raises his game against the Addicks and just as safe to say that the revenge he exacted on Saturday was especially sweet. He had been on the field for a little over a quarter of an hour before he had both an equaliser and a match-winner to his credit. And in each case, his stooge was Inniss.
It’s more than likely that the modern devotion to playing from the back persuaded Inniss to dwell absentmindedly in possession, when an obvious alternative entailed an old-fashioned, anywhere-will-do clearance – highly effective in moments of doubt but jarringly out of place in the “beautiful game”. While he was pondering his options, Marquis relieved him of the ball before dispatching it unstoppably into the top right corner.
Abruptly, the stricken Addicks were shorn of confidence and bereft of bounce. Their visitors, on the other hand, smelled blood and the possibility of a highly unlikely victory. And Marquis hadn’t completed his victimisation of Inniss.
Played through the middle after Paul Coutts alertly intercepted the shellshocked centre-back’s careless pass, he calmly slotted past Maynard-Brewer as Charlton’s keeper advanced desperately. It was the ultimate in sucker punches and plunged The Valley into a cocktail of anger and resignation. In a demoralised atmosphere, there was never even a thought of hitting back.
As the contenders for promotion out of the quicksand which is League One disappear over the horizon, Hayes and his disintegrating team must focus instead on the struggle to stave off relegation to the even more ghastly netherworld of League Two.
A crumb of consolation may be found not only in the useful four-point advantage they hold over the basement dwellers, but the game in hand they have over several of their nearmost rivals. Not only that, but an overwhelmingly superior goal difference gives them an additional edge.
You clutch at such straws when you feel yourself going under. Make no mistake. Charlton are – temporarily, it’s to be hoped – in over their heads.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Clare, Lavelle, Inniss, Dobson, Rak-Sakyi (Leaburn 64), Payne, Fraser (Kirk 88), Blackett-Taylor (Morgan 80), Sessegnon (Chin 80), Stockley (Aneke 64). Not used: Harness, Mitchell.
Bristol Rovers: Belshaw, Connolly (Hoole 46), Gordon, Sinclair (Whelan 82), Collins (Gibbons 90), Coutts, Gibson, Evans, McCormick (Marquis 55), Thomas, Coburn. Not used: Jaakkola, Kilgour, Saunders. Booked: Evans, Coutts.
Referee: Sam Allison. Official attendance: 12,340 (1,139 visiting).
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