The Addicks might be at one of their lowest ever league positions, but a gutsy performance on Wednesday night saw them squeeze past Brighton for an historic cup win. KEVIN NOLAN reports.
A performance which combined good, old-fashioned guts with superbly organised defending saw Charlton through to the fifth round of the Carabao Cup (once known as the League Cup in simpler times). A timely slice of luck or two helped their cause but they fully deserved their victory over Premier League surprise packets Brighton after surviving a chaotic penalty shoot-out.
The jubilation which greeted Sam Lavelle’s decisive spot-kick was as much in relief as joy because the Addicks had suffered during normal time. Extra time would surely have proved an unendurable burden but then again, they were clearly in no mood to surrender. Their attitude was bloody-minded and hard-nosed so who knows how they might have responded to the additional half hour? And, come to that, how would Roberto De Zerbi’s top flight parvenus have dealt with it?
Wednesday’s backs-to-the-wall resistance might well have spelled the end of all that kidding around in their own penalty area which has proved costly on so many occasions recently. It was significant that outstanding keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer waved centre backs Lavelle and Ryan Inniss upfield when they ranged alongside him as he prepared to take his early goal kicks. They needed no further encouragement to comply and, freed of the responsibility to emulate Bobby Moore, settled down to defend responsibly and at times quite brilliantly.
So too did fledglings Lucas Ness and Richard Chin against the persistent but toothless visitors, whose overwhelming advantage in possession didn’t quite translate into clear-cut chances. Albion looked likely to score as they buzzed around the home penalty area but promised far more than they delivered.
They had their moments but, in Maynard-Brewer, encountered a goalkeeper who seems ready to take over as Charlton’s No. 1; not to mention the defensive shield provided by George Dobson who, as the cliche has it, covered every blade of grass. Dobson’s was nearly the perfect performance – one that gave heart to his often beleaguered colleagues.
As hardboiled as they were soft-centred just four days previously in capitulating to Bristol Rovers, the Addicks soaked up Brighton’s steady, drip-drip pressure in the first period, retreating into their own half and unapologetically forming a human barrier outside their penalty area. Defence involved all eleven players and while the South Coasters called the tune, it was more Muzak than Mozart. There were a couple of tricky situations but Charlton coped well enough.
Handing over management to new gaffer Dean Holden before Monday’s crucial visit of Peterborough United, caretaker Anthony Hayes went out in a blaze of glory, with the strong side he named “going out swinging” as he promised. They went toe-to-toe with what was virtually De Zerbi’s first choice selection and gave them all they could handle.
But the boost they gave Holden for his daunting Boxing Day debut was tempered by the worrying injuries sustained in a far from bruising cup tie. With almost monotonous regularity, one Addick after another bit the dust, the most dramatic of them the painfully limping Chuks Aneke, who lasted little more than five minutes as a replacement of Miles Leaburn before giving way himself to Jayden Stockley.
Both Leaburn and Aneke are no doubt integral to Holden’s plans, as is midfield schemer Scott Fraser, who joined them on the sideline with a quarter hour remaining. Jesurun Rak-Sakyi also finished as walking wounded, but not before he made a hash of his shoot-out penalty.
Prospects looked bleak as the Seagulls dominated the early going, with skipper Lewis Dunk nodding Solly March’s corner wastefully wide and Adam Lallana, set up by Tariq Lamptey’s square pass, skimming the bar from 20 yards. Jack Payne drew a save from Jason Steele and Dunk was required to block Steven Sessegnon’s effort but the interval arrived as welcome respite to the South East Londoners.
The second half provided more of the same, with Maynard-Brewer spectacularly tipping Levi Colwill’s bullet header over the bar before March combined flair with folly as he danced through the home defence but prodded inexplicably wide an apparently unmissable chance at close range.
Maynard-Brewer contributed smart saves from Moises Caicedo and substitute Leandro Trossard to secure, for the Addicks, a penalty shoot-out, at which they have recently encouraging form.
Pascal Gross hit the first penalty against a post; Stockley did likewise to square the score; Trossard hit the bar with Albion’s second effort before Jake Forster-Caskey efficiently gave Charlton a 1-0 lead. That lead disappeared as Lamptey converted and Dobson’s was saved by Steele.
The visitors went ahead when Dunk netted and Rak-Sakyi’s weak attempt was easily saved by Steele but March came to the rescue by ballooning into the Jimmy Seed Stand and Corey Blackett-Taylor efficiently converted. It was hardly the most clinical of penalty shoot-outs but Sessegnon delivered and after Maynard-Brewer athletically saved from Caicedo, Lavelle smashed a no-nonsense blockbuster past the helpless Steele.
Funny thing about penalty shoot-outs. Nearly everybody agrees they are no way to settle a game of football. But when you win one of them, you’re not quite as adamant. In fact, you quite warm to them. What better way is there? Extra time? No thanks, not on Wednesday. Stands to reason.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Sessegnon, Inniss, Lavelle, Chin, Ness, Rak-Sakyi, Payne (Blackett-Taylor 63), Fraser (Forster-Caskey 75), Dobson, Leaburn (Aneke 63, Stockley 68). Not used: McGillivray, Morgan, Kirk, Campbell, Mitchell.
Brighton: Steele, Lamptey, Dunk, Colwill, March, Gross, Lallana (Trossard 62), Enciso (Mitoma 66), Undav (Ferguson 78), Caicedo, Gilmour (Estupinan 62). Not used: McGill, Sarmiento, van Hecke, Veltman, Moran.
Referee: Thomas Bramall. Attendance: 17,464 (6,264).
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