Author: kevinnolan

Kevin Nolan’s Locked-Down Valley View: Cardiff City 0-0 Charlton Athletic

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Kevin Nolan's Valley View

Thought a 0-0 draw would be a disappointment? Not when you’re fighting relegation and up against one of the division’s top teams. KEVIN NOLAN, still locked down in Grove Park, watched the Addicks take on the Bluebirds in the Welsh capital.

If one volunteer is worth two conscripts, as they preach in the Army, Charlton’s Championship future rests in willing hands. Showing seven changes to the side which squeezed past QPR just three days previously, they still had enough about them to hold in-form play-off hopefuls Cardiff to an honourable, if forgettable, draw.

Having shuffled his pack astutely, Lee Bowyer was dealt a fresh blow – in a season pockmarked by similar pitfalls – when West Brom loanee Sam Field was forced off in the first half following a head clash with Robert Glatzel. Having already missed most of the season through injury, Field had been anxious to make a belated contribution and his distress was obvious. The knock he received prior to his collision with Glatzel was clearly of more concern to the back room boys than the head wound.

Intending to rest veteran Darren Pratley in readiness for Friday evening’s visit of Millwall, Lee Bowyer’s schemes were again disrupted. But there was little cause for immediate alarm. Up stepped 35 year-old warhorse Pratley to take over in a defensive formation designed to reduce this game to one of little incident and fewer chances. His reassuring presence fitted in seamlessly to the game plan.

Though hugely encouraging, Charlton’s post-lockdown results won’t blind Bowyer to one worrying reality. Though pleased with the third consecutive clean sheet achieved by his bloody-minded defence and, when called upon, by his outstanding goalkeeper Dillon Phillips, he must face the uncomfortable fact that the goals which edged Hull and QPR resulted from setpieces created for Pratley and centreback Jason Pearce.

His forwards, meanwhile, have laboured fitfully without suggesting they might score. At the moment, you could say Charlton are operating with non-striking strikers.

Against Neil Harris’ high-flying Bluebirds, Chuks Aneke and Andre Green met mixed fortunes in their first starts since the campaign resumed. Aneke was a muscular handful for the Welsh defence, backing in, holding the ball up and providing a useful outlet up front for beleaguered colleagues. Green, on the other hand, proved too easy to dispossess and unhappily dithered too long over the early chance fashioned for him by Aneke’s persistence.

Perhaps surprisingly, it was Aneke who gave way to Macauley Bonne around the hour mark, with Green eventually replaced by Ben Purrington as a precious point became the priority. Bonne has shown only flashes of the form which brought him eight goals before intermission but an overdue goal could change that. Then it’ll be c’est si Bonne again.

Elsewhere, Bowyer will have found it difficult to name a stand-out contributor to a character-full performance by this battered but admirable squad. The impressive passing and renewed responsibility of Naby Sarr shone in a rock-hard back three alongside redoubtable warriors Pearce and Tom Lockyer. George Lapslie, another vitual newcomer, grafted tirelessly until replaced by Deji Oshilaja at right wingback while fellow Academy graduate Alfie Doughty, the latest cab off the Sparrows Lane rank, frequently left flustered Bluebirds in his wake as he broke out, with pace and uquenchable optimism, from defence.

In front of Pearce’s defensive line, the Addicks were well served by a stubborn, competitive midfield, in which Josh Cullen was, as can by now be assumed, excellent. The West Ham loanee has bought into Charlton’s all-for-one ethos and is indispensable in their hectic schedule, playing every minute so far. Pratley, as already observed, still has an impressive engine which shows no sign of misfiring.

Throw late substitute Albie Morgan into the equation and the Addicks are well served in a midfield where new starter Jake Forster-Caskey alone struggled to impress.

Cardiff’s chances were rare, the best of them created for Albert Adomah by Joe Ralls’ defence-splitting diagonal pass. Shooting across Dillon Phillips, Adomah’s low drive was brilliantly tipped away by the full length keeper. Apart from one or two bits and pieces, Phillips was capably shielded by Charlton’s blanket-like resistance. Doing sterling work for City, centre back Curtis Nelson was alive to the visitors’ most promising chances.

Responsible for smothering Green’s early effort to convert Aneke’s set-up, much later he alertly read the low ball sent in by Sarr fom the left byline, sliding in to whisk the ball off Forster-Caskey’s toes as a tap-in seemed likely. Like Phillips, Alex Smithies had little to do as a dour stalemate developed.

One or two more of these uneventful “clashes”, to be honest, and Charlton will be home and dry. But then Millwall are due at The Valley on Friday evening. That’s a whole different ballgame. There goes the neighbourhood!

Cardiff: Smithies, Sanderson, Bennett, Nelson, Morrison, Ralls (Vaulks 88), Bacuna (Tomlin 65), Pack, Adomah, Mendez-Laing (Hoilett 65), Glatzel (Paterson 46),. Not used: Etheridge, Bamba, Flint, Smith, Whyte. Booked: Sanderson.

Charlton: Phillips, Lapslie (Oshilaja 63), Lockyer, Pearce, Sarr, Doughty, Field (Pratley 36), Cullen, Forster-Caskey (Morgan 79), Aneke (Bonne 63), Green (Purrington 79). Not used: Amos, Williams, Davison, McGeady. Booked: Purrington.

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Kevin Nolan’s Locked-Down Valley View: Hull City 0-1 Charlton Athletic

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Kevin Nolan's Valley View

It’s been a while, but football has made a midsummer comeback after the coronavirus lockdown. KEVIN NOLAN got his streaming subscription sorted in good time and tried to settle down on the sofa to watch the Addicks notch up a big win…

The light at the end of the tunnel remains dim, but it but glows a little more hopefully after Charlton’s vital victory over Hull City at a cavernous KC Stadium. An early setpiece goal scored by pugnacious Jason Pearce was enough to see off Grant McCann’s toothless Tigers and catapult the visitors out of the relegation zone, where they’d uncomfortably spent the past four months.

Had the Addicks managed to crown their clear superiority with at least one further goal, they might have spared their long-suffering fans the inevitable tension that goes with the territory. As it was, the spectre of the last gasp equaliser haunted the laptop faithful until five intolerable minutes of added time amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. More than one housebound zealot spent them crouched behind the sofa. Count me among them.

Charlton’s solitary goal was a pleasing combination of pinpoint accuracy and good, old-fashioned physicality. Aidan McGeady’s dipping volley from outside the penalty area was initially tipped over his crossbar by George Long but the resultant left wing corner turned out to be the keeper’s undoing. Swung inwards by the outstanding Josh Cullen, Tomas Hemed’s deft front door flick glanced off Long’s groping fingertips before Pearce crashed through the tradesmen’s entrance, bullying Tom Eaves and Jon Toral into the net with him as headed irresistibly inside the far post. The skipper’s “rough and rowdy ways” were exactly what necessity demanded.

Showing his customary boldness, Lee Bowyer caused more than a few eyebrows to raise with the starting line-up he named for the Humberside crunch clash. Preferring Deji Oshilaja to either Ben Purrington or Naby Sarr at left back, he also chose the enigmatic McGeady on the right of midfield, with young Albie Morgan recalled from obscurity to operate on the left. Meanwhile, Hemed got the nod alongside Macauley Bonne up front, with Andre Green a worrying absentee. A routine 4-4-2 formation vindicated his tactical nous and proceeded to outclass their woebegone hosts.

A much improved McGeady and Morgan, with his playmaking ability to pick the right pass, did their bits until replaced around the hour mark. It was in central midfield, though, where Charlton decided the issue. Cullen hardly put a foot wrong apart from wafting an acceptable chance fashioned by rampaging substitute Chuks Aneke over the bar. His blend of tenacity and skill will be crucial during the coming weeks, his contribution including the risky but precisely timed tackle which whisked the ball off Daniel Batty’s toes as the attacking midfielder shaped to shoot inside the penalty area late in the second half.

At Cullen’s elbow, Darren Pratley was his usual combative self. Tackling and covering diligently, he ploughed through his own workload tirelessly and was always available to help elsewhere. Age hasn’t wearied the admirable veteran, nor the years condemned. You’d name him as company in a wartime trench.

There were other positives to warm Bowyer’s cockles. After a shaky start, Oshilaja settled down and combined with McGeady to create a golden opportunity to double the lead two minutes after Pearce’s opener. Sent clear on the left by McGeady’s cleverly disguised backheel, his fiercely driven low cross eluded the sliding Macauley Bonne and Hemed as it flashed to safety across Long’s goal area.

Bonne was on the end of another chance in the second half but misdirected his header wide after lively substitute Alfie Doughty cut City’s right flank open and provided the perfect cross. A second goal continued to elude the Addicks and stirred unpleasant memories that Hull had been one of many late goalscorers to frustrate them earlier in the season.Their unease intensified when Keane Lewis-Potter, scorer of the Tigers’ sickening equaliser at The Valley in December, replaced Batty with over a quarter hour left but there was to be no repetition of that disaster.

Dillon Phillips enjoyed a virtually untroubled afternoon, a routine tip-over of Batty’s drive his only meaningful save until Long’s huge clearance caused havoc between Pearce and Tom Lockyer in the late stages, allowing Danish substitute Samuelson a rare sight of goal. The youngster’s shot on the run was competently fielded by Phillips and the Addicks were home and dry.

With the marathon which we’re regularly reminded constitutes a football season now reduced to a nine-game sprint, Charlton have burst impressively from the starting blocks. Their speed is impressive. Now comes a test of their stamina.

Hull: Long, Pennington, McDonald, De Wijs, Elder, Batty (Lewis-Potter 73), Kane, Bowler (Scott 56), Toral (Honeyman 56), Wilks (Samuelson 85), Eaves (Magennis 56. Not used: Tafazolli, Burke, Stewart, Ingram. Booked: Batty.

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce, Oshilaja (Purrington 71), McGeady (Field 82), Pratley, Cullen, Morgan (Doughty 61), Bonne (Williams 82), Hemed (Aneke 72). Not used: Amos, Sarr, Oztumer, Davoson. Booked: Oshilaja, Pratley, Williams.

Referee: Darren England.

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton stood by Lyle Taylor – now he should stand by the Addicks

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Kevin Nolan's Valley View

The Charlton Champion‘s football correspondent KEVIN NOLAN is looking forward to the Championship season resuming – albeit behind closed doors. But he has words for talismanic striker Lyle Taylor, whose contract is up on June 30, and does not want to play for the Addicks again…

The waiting is finally over. We know now that Charlton’s fate will be decided by a nine game mini-season which kicks off behind closed doors at Hull City on Saturday June 20. The Roar of the Greasepaint is back but the Smell of the Crowd remains on hold for a while longer.

After losing dismally 1-0 to Middlesbrough on March 7th, the Addicks will resume their daunting task two points in the red and mired in the relegation zone. They will also begin again without Lyle Taylor; the charismatic striker has stated his intention to sit out the rest of the season to avoid injury ahead of a lucrative transfer which is, no doubt, already a done deal. Contracted at The Valley until June 30th, he seems determined to breach that contract by refusing to play in any of the three games scheduled during his last month of employment.

Mischievously timed, Charlton’s fourth game is an early July home fixture with Millwall, the club whose alleged mistreatment of Taylor embittered the discarded teenager but made him the independent spirit he is today. Unfortunately, a golden opportunity to vent his spleen on the Lions at the Den in November was torpedoed by an inconvenient injury sustained while on meaningless international duty with Montserrat. That was clearly a lucky break for Millwall but their visit to The Valley on April 4th was inked in as a second chance for personal vengeance.

Lockdown put paid to that fixture and it looks like Gary Rowett’s men are off the hook again, with a conscience-free Taylor within his rights to down tools before they arrive. Chalk up another victory for “Millwall flu”.

Patient and philosophical during Taylor’s painstakingly long spell in the New Eltham treatment rooms, Lee Bowyer could do without his his sulky forward going on strike. His side’s chances of avoiding relegation have taken a body blow as reference, for instance, to the magical goals Taylor scored at home to Luton and away at Nottingham Forest clarifies. Charlton’s No. 9 is a uniquely gifted footballer.

However disgruntled he may feel, should Taylor feel any sense of responsibility he would buckle down to the unfinished business of the nine games which will decide where his current employers play their football next season. The club stood behind him when he picked up that unnecessary injury in Montserrat. Now it’s his turn to repay their loyalty and help them out of the jam they’re in.

Clearly his own man and hardly the type to knuckle under to an agent, it’s not too late for the reluctant Taylor to change his mind and do the right thing. Respecting the club which has paid his healthy wages for two years is the right thing; respecting the fans who have made an icon of him is the right thing; respecting teammates, to whom relegation would be both humiliating and costly, is the right thing.

Neither club, fans, nor teammates are asking him to work down a coal mine, just to play football nine more times. So do the right thing, mate. Nine more times.

You’ll thank yourself later for it. So will Betty Hutchins, Les Turner and Seb Lewis.

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 3-1 Luton Town

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Kevin Nolan's Valley View

The Addicks notched up a crucial win against relegation contenders Luton Town yesterday. KEVIN NOLAN was there for The Charlton Champion.

The plaudits and headlines saluting Charlton’s crucial victory over gritty Luton Town will, in time-honoured fashion, be claimed by goal machine Lyle Taylor and battery-powered George Lapslie. Quite right too, of course, given Taylor’s prodigious return of 11 goals from just 14 starts plus five substitute appearances. And not to mention the lift to the whole stadium provided by Lapslie, who marked his return from a lengthy injury absence by easing the tension with the rare luxury of a game-clinching goal.

Newly named as captain, Taylor justified his promotion with yet another inspirational performance, which he crowned with a superbly-taken opening goal and the latest of his patented “walking football” spotkicks. He illuminates an otherwise honest-to-goodness side with his insatiable will-to-win and in-opponents’-face chutzpah.

Lapslie took over from a struggling Deji Oshilaja ten minutes into the second half to make his first appearance since November 9th. Knuckling down immediately, he supplied energy and wholehearted commitment to the cause.

As “one of their own” there could no more popular a goalscorer at a nervous Valley than blond-haired George. This was his first goal in a serious Charlton game. His recall to the colours provides Lee Bowyer with a perfectly timed boost ahead of a tricky 12-game run-in.

Improbably sharp

Another Addick with a case to be regarded as home grown is pocket-sized Erhun Oztumer, who was released at 16 from the academy set-up and has spent several somewhat aimless seasons in virtual exile. Given a second chance with Charlton, he is making the most of it. Until he was replaced by the excellent Macauley Bonne with 12 minutes left, Oztumer was a ballplaying delight, his subtle passing, long or short where the situation dictated, driving more than one Hatter mad. It was his cross, following a short corner routine worked with Josh Cullen, which Naby Sarr drove powerfully against the underside of Simon Sluga’s crossbar. The keeper temporarily preserved equality by alertly tipping Alfie Doughty’s ripsnorter to safety but ran out of luck just past the half-hour mark.

Another short corner, delivered by Cullen and half-=cleared from the visiting penalty area was picked up by David Davis and slipped forward to Taylor, lurking among a posse of white-shirted defenders. The striker’s turn was improbably sharp, the low drive he whiplashed into the bottom left corner an unstoppable force of nature. Ironic that such a marvellously-taken goal was cancelled out within two minutes.

Town had acquitted themselves well and had been unlucky when Luke Berry’s fierce shot deflected harmlessly over the bar off Tom Lockyer. They hit back gamely and were gifted their equaliser by David Davis, whose disastrously scuffed clearance of Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu’s low centre was crisply driven past Dillon Phillips by an impressively cool Harry Cornick. The interval provided timely relief for Bowyer’s rattled Addicks but they re-grouped admirably and went in search of the coup-de-grace.

Oztumer’s understated influence was quickly in evidence, his craftily weighted pass sending Taylor rampaging through to deliver hard and low from the left. Sliding in, Andre Green seemed certain to score but prodded wide from six yards. “Harder to miss” was Bowyer’s unkind but hastily mitigated reaction to the squandered chance.

Premature Luton celebrations

Ten minutes after resumption, Cornick crossed from the right, James Collins tapped in at the far post and the packed Jimmy Seed Stand celebrated wildly. Prematurely, as it turned out. A linesman’s flag ruled Collins offside, much to the chagrin and bitterly-expressed displeasure of Hatters boss Graeme Jones. He might have had a point but that’s how it so often goes when you’re looking up from the bottom of the league.

Insult was added to Jones’s perceived injury when Charlton regained the lead on the hour. Lapslie was proving a persistent thorn in their side and after picking up the pieces left by the latest of Cullen’s short corners he let fly uninhibitedly, his shot blocked by Collins’ carelessly outflung hand inside the area. Taylor walked the walk to convert the inevitable penalty, then talked the talk to remind Luton’s ill-advised fans of the foulmouthed abuse they had heaped on him before he scored in the first half. Lyle isn’t one to forgive or forget.

Hardly overworked while his colleagues coped with the visitors’ rare attacks, Phillips did his bit by spectacularly tipping George Moncur’s potent drive over his bar. Lapslie promptly stepped up to settle the nerves. Urged by Bowyer to “get into the box”, he was in the right place at the right time to convert Bonne’s low ball in from the right byline. Made by Bonne, finished by Lapslie, two players fresh from Sparrows Lane Infirmary; it’s been Bowyer’s frequently stated belief that as the injuries began to clear up, Charlton would thrive. This goal bears him out.

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Oshilaja (Lapslie 55), Sarr, Doughty, Davis, Cullen, Oztumer (Bonne 78), Green (Pearce 88), Taylor. Not used: Amos, McGeady, Smith, Hemed. Booked: Oshilaja, Taylor.

Luton: Sluga, Potts, Pearson, Tunnicliffe, Bree (Bolton 82), Carter-Vickers, Cornick (Moncur 70), Rea (McManaman 70), Berry, Mpanzu, Collins. Not used: Stech, Cranie, Hylton, Shinnie. Booked: Tunnicliffe.

Referee: Andre Marriner. Attendance: 18,969 (2,785 visiting).

This one’s for Les Turner, who is seriously ill in hospital. Fight on, Les. We can’t do it without you.

Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-1 Barnsley

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Kevin Nolan's Valley View

KEVIN NOLAN was at The Valley on Saturday to report on a vital win for Charlton.

Whether you’re in a title race or a relegation dogfight, concentrate on your own game and don’t be worrying about other results you can’t control. That’s a piece of advice old-timers used to hand out (they would also quaintly advise never to pass across your own penalty area – a practice more or less coached into players in these enlightened times).

Time – and football – moves on and in this digital age, it’s become impossible to be unaware within your own bubble of events elsewhere in the country. You can bet that Lee Bowyer’s immediate priority, once this nerve-shredding victory over fellow-strugglers Barnsley was in the bag, was to find out how the others had got on. He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t.

The good news was that Stoke, Huddersfield and Luton had lost. The only fly in a soothing ointment was the news that serial-chokers Leeds had dismally failed to oblige at home to Wigan. But the Addicks had moved up to 19th position and had Middlesbrough and Birmingham in their sights above them. The more the merrier in a survival battle, there’s another sage bit of advice for you.

Squad improvements

With his squad stiffened by a few canny loan signings and by the return from injury of several key players, Bowyer has every reason to expect an improvement in results in the near future. This faltering, often chaotic, win over surprisingly resilient Barnsley provided an important first step. It also emphasised how vital the continued good health of Lyle Taylor will be to Charlton’s immediate prospects.

There’s no such thing, of course, as a one-man team but Taylor is almost indispensable. During the Addicks’ dreary winless run, his personality, charisma, not to mention his regular goals, were sorely missed. It’s hardly a coincidence that after he was withdrawn in the 68th minute of this crucial clash, Barnsley flooded forward and took over. Glad to see an end to Charlton’s Taylor-led restless chivvying, they reduced their two-goal arrears three minutes after his departure and went looking for parity. Only desperate defending and two enormous strokes of luck saw Bowyer’s beleaguered braves over the line.

It was inevitably Taylor who shot Charlton into an early lead. A cynical foul on Josh Cullen gave its victim the opportunity to dink a clever free kick into the danger area, where Jason Pearce contributed a key header, to which Taylor reacted sharply in stabbing his eighth goal of an injury-blighted season past Samuel Sahin-Radlinger. The goal was initiated by a marvellously indefatigable midfielder, carried forward by an uncomplicated battler and finished by a cold-eyed predator.

Pearce had already cleared up a mess of Charlton’s own making when defensive indecision allowed Jacob Brown to set up Luke Thomas inside the home penalty area. Making ground quickly, Pearce legally smothered the busy midfielder as he prepared to shoot. Bleeding profusely, Thomas must have wondered what hit him.

Essential save

Midway through the first half, Dillon Phillips made what is now recognised as a Banksesque save to maintain the lead. Meeting Clarke Odour’s left-sided free kick, Danish defender Mads Andersen directed a downward header destined for the bottom left corner until Phillips scrambled across his goalline to athletically conjure the ball to temporary safety. He deserved the good fortune he enjoyed as Aapo Halme blasted the rebound against the outside of the post. A rare standing ovation from the Covered End saluted Phillips’ outstanding save.

Comfortably on top otherwise, Charlton doubled their lead in added time. A right wing corner swung in by Alfie Doughty was returned to its young taker, whose second delivery from an improved angle picked out Pearce at the far post. The captain’s deliberate header eluded Naby Sarr but was emphatically drilled inside the left post by Andre Green. His second goal for the club capped an impressive shift put in by the Aston Villa loanee, who showed class and tenacity.

The 57th minute departure of a predictably battered Jonny Williams was followed eleven minutes later by the withdrawal of Taylor, himself the recipient of some illegally heavy treatment. The momentum promptly changed as the Addicks retreated deep into their own half. While they wavered, Andersen’s ferocious drive almost knocked Phillips off his feet, with Cauley Woodrow sending the rebound crashing against the bar.

Often Charlton’s nemesis in previous encounters, Woodrow refused to be discouraged. Played into space following Thomas’ fine run and through pass, the Tykes’ leading scorer halved the lead with a crisp rising drive beyond Phillips’ reach.

The spectacle of rampant visitors besieging the Jimmy Seed end, where the vast majority of 20 goals conceded at home this season have been scored, was now familiar.  Blind panic and sheer desperation to hang on unnerved The Valley with luck playing another priceless part as Brown rattled the bar for a second time and Halme’s late shot was hacked off the line by an unidentified but heroic red shirt. Six added minutes were actually negotiated with uncharacteristic efficiency.

So much for the five-year plan (funny how it’s always five years) to secure Charlton’s place in the Premier League. More to the point, this precious victory might prove to be the first step in a five-week plan to keep the Addicks in the Championship. Bring on the long-term dream by all means but spare us a short-term nightmare in League One. But it’s so far so good, Tahnoon, welcome aboard. Make yourself at home…spit on the floor… call the cat names.

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce. Sarr, Doughty (Purrington 90), Cullen, Williams (Forster-Caskey 57), Pratley, Green, Taylor (Hemed 68). Not used: Amos, McGeady, Field, Oztumer.

Barnsley: Sahin-Radlinger, Jordan Williams (Simoes 68), Sollbauer, Andersen, Odour (Ludewig 68), Thomas, Halme, Mowatt, Brown, Woodrow, Chaplin. Not used: Walton, Ben Williams, Dougal, Schmidt, Styles.

Referee: John Brooks.  Att: 19,870 (1,083 visiting).

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-2 West Bromwich Albion

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Kevin Nolan's Valley View

Saturday saw West Bromwich Albion back in SE7 for the second time in a week. KEVIN NOLAN reports from the first Championship game at The Valley since new owners East Street Investments completed their takeover.

Nursing a strong sense of entitlement, West Bromwich Albion returned to the Midlands clutching the point which, along with Leeds United’s home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday, moved them back on top of the Championship. They departed convinced they had somehow been robbed of all three.

The Baggies had been marginally the better team. They had enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and had managed more attempts on goal. Slaven Bilic’s experienced side also dominated a couple of other important statistics; they committed 14 fouls to 10 by Charlton, while picking up six of the eight yellow cards issued by referee Jarred Gillet. Recipient himself of one of those cautions, Hal Robson-Kanu pointed out plaintively that Charlton “had been very physical throughout.” They certainly absorbed some crude buffeting. Occasionally gave a little bit back, more power to their elbows..

Bilic was not similarly deluded. His tribute to the still sorely depleted Addicks was generous. “Charlton fought and competed and ran until the end. They never gave up. But we had many chances to score the third. That was disappointing.” It was not Bilic’s place to add that Charlton’s crucial result was achieved with the assistance of three recent academy graduates; so consider this a salute to fledglings Ben Dempsey, Josh Davison and Alfie Doughty, who stood up to be counted as Albion dished out the rough stuff.

Early action

Roared on by a bumper crowd – their second largest of the season – Charlton might have grabbed a first minute lead if Conor Gallagher had returned Sam Johnstone’s errant clearance with slightly more accuracy. The young loanee’s low shot whistled inches the wrong side of a post. At the other end, Dillon Phillips was forced down low to his left to scramble Kenneth Zohore’s bouncing header to safety. It was the Danish forward’s enterprise which won the Baggies an early lead.

Alertly closing Tom Lockyer down as the defender spurned the opportunity to clear his lines in favour of playing out from the back, Zohore anticipated his move back towards goal and neatly relieved him of possession on the right touchline. Bearing down on a wrongfooted defence, the rangy striker’s first effort was bravely charged down by Deji Oshilaja but he made no mistake as the rebound sat up kindly for him.

Away end antics

Heads dropped only briefly because the Addicks were level again six minutes later. Their recovery was begun by impressive league debutant Andre Green, whose persistence earned a corner on the left. The setpiece was delayed as those scamps behind the away goal refused to return the ball. How we chuckled as they larked about and how the hilarity increased as Gallagher’s short corner routine with Doughty improved the angle for a soaring cross which Naby Sarr effortlessly headed down for Davison to calmly nod in his first senior goal from five yards. By now they were in stitches in the Jimmy Seed stand. Bless ’em, the little rascals. They certainly know how to have fun.

A minute after the break, they were chortling again as their heroes regained the lead. In space to the right, Matt Phillips supplied a hard-driven low centre which Robson-Kanu, getting the better of Lockyer at the near post, flicked home off Sarr. For the fourth time in their two-game, eight-goal league saga, the ex-Throstles led the battling Addicks. And yet again, they proved unable to retain their lead.

No own goal

Albion’s excessive testosterone was almost inevitably their undoing. A crude push in the back of substitute Jonny Williams – one of three returning patients from long-term injury – conceded a free kick which Gallagher fed out to Doughty, who crossed from the left touchline. Timing his leap perfectly to outjump Kyle Bartley, Lockyer powered an unstoppable header past Johnstone, with assistance from the right post. Any nonsense about the keeper being debited with an own goal should be treated as pedantic piffle. Lockyer emulated Davison in notching his first goal for the Addicks because no keeper was about to save that header.

We can also dismiss all that meaningless debate concerning what you “deserve” from a football game. You deserve nothing. What you GET is what the final scoreline gives you. It’s the only statistic that matters. There’s nothing else to discuss. If you  fail to grasp that concept, you’re doomed to frequent disappointment. It’s football, not a morality play.

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Oshilaja (Williams 62), Sarr, Pratley, Dempsey (Forster-Caskey 62), Doughty, Gallagher, Green, Davison (Hemed 74). Not used: Maynard-Brewer, Purrington, Pearce, Morgan. Booked: Locker, Green.

WBA: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, Bartley, Townsend, Livermore Sawyers, Phillips (Edwards 86), Robson-Kanu (Austin 73), Pereira, Zohore (Diangana 73). Not used: Bond, Krovinovic, Brunt, Hegazi. Booked: Robson-Kanu, Ajayi,Phillips, Pereira, Sawyers, Diangana.

Referee: Jarred Gillet.  Att: 19,270 (3,154 visiting).

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Kevin Nolan’s Valley View: Charlton Athletic 2-2 Hull City

kevinnolan

Kevin Nolan's Valley View

Another last-minute goal went the wrong way at The Valley on Friday night. KEVIN NOLAN picks through what went wrong…

Now hovering perilously above the Championship’s relegation basement, Charlton again – yet again! – conceded a vital added time goal which cost them an opportunity to distance themselves from the maelstrom beneath them. And inevitably, they yielded in front of the Jimmy Seed Stand housing the away supporters. The familiar tableau of stricken Addicks falling to their knees while jubilant opponents celebrate wildly with delirious travelling fans is wearing thin. It’s time to change the dynamic.

It might help to consider a few pertinent statistics derived from 12 home games. Charlton have had 14 goals scored against them, of which no fewer than 11 have been registered in the second half at the away end. They’re impressively solid when defending the home goal. Only Stoke, Swansea and Sheffield Wednesday have succeeded in scoring before the home supporters, which means nine other teams have failed to turn the trick in front of the Covered End.

So what can we conclude from these figures? Well, they call into question Charlton’s rigid practice for attacking the visitors’ goal in the first half. Are we meant to assume they win every toss and have their choice of ends? Or is there an unspoken understanding among teams that the hosts get to choose on a turnabout basis?

On too many occasions this season, the Addicks have been called upon to defend a lead with their backs to the away end. And too often they have failed miserably to see the job through to the bitter end. Seven times now they have been caught – on the last two occasions in added time. The squandered points would already have all but secured their place in next season’s Championship. Perhaps they would offer stiffer resistance if the defence – and Dillon Phillips in particular – had a raucous Covered End ranged behind them. There’s a psychological edge to be among friends.

Friday’s hammer-blow was inflicted with the last touch of a see-saw game. Hull were throwing the kitchen sink at their fast unravelling hosts as five minutes of added time extended into a sixth minute. Unwisely, Ben Purrington, who had been drafted into the starting line-up only because Alfie Doughty reported sick, capped an indifferent contribution by committing a needless foul near the halfway line. With every available Tiger crowding the penalty area, goalkeeper George Long hurried forward to send a free kick soaring into the penalty area; Jason Pearce headed clear to playmaker Kamil Grosicki, who controlled neatly, stepped on to his right foot and crossed precisely from the left flank. Leaving Purrington earthbound at the far post, Keane Lewis-Potter directed a clever header inside the right post which Phillips, despite his frantic efforts to save, could only help over the line. The sickening setback was tougher to absorb with Tuesday’s heartbreak still fresh in Valley minds.

Defend the Covered End

There’s no point in speculating, of course, whether the Addicks – and Phillips – would have fared better at the home end but maybe there’s no harm in finding out. The Potters, the Swans and the Owls would confirm it’s harder to score down there.
Setting out in an improvised 3-5-2 formation, meanwhile, Charlton shaded an uneventful first half, from which they emerged a goal to the good. Chances had been few for both sides when Conor Gallagher, having assumed setpiece responsibility, delivered a wind-assisted right wing corner which cleared a congested goal area before being powerfully headed past Long by Darren Pratley. Skipper Eric Lichaj’s ill-starred complaint that he’d been fouled rather than overpowered by Pratley fell on referee Andy Davies’ resolutely deaf ears.

Required to protect their lead in front of the notorious away end, Charlton survived for only two minutes before it was cancelled out. Very much his side’s creative heartbeat, Grosicki found space to send over a dipping ball which Pearce and his defensive colleagues, in fear of an own goal, left untouched as it made its way to the far post. November’s Championship player of the month Jarrod Bowen gleefully bashed the Tigers’ first equaliser into a gaping net.

City’s equality lasted only a couple of minutes before Charlton forged in front again with an outstanding ensemble goal. Starting a flowing move in his own half, Naby Sarr offloaded neatly to Albie Morgan, whose measured pass sent Jonathan Leko running directly at the left side of Hull’s defence. Making mugs of both Reece Burke and Callum Elder, the mercurial WBA loanee ghosted past them and hammered over a low cross which left Sarr, who had alertly followed his initial pass forward, the simple task of finishing from a yard out.

With the second half approaching an apparently happy conclusion, Bowyer’s embattled side seemed to done enough to draw a line under their two-month slump. Phillips played his part with two shap saves from Bowen and Lichaj but otherwise there was little cause for concern which ignored, of course, Charlton’s quite extraordinary inability to see things through to the final whistle. They might possibly find it an easier proposition if they were defending the Covered End. Just saying like…

Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce, Sarr, Purrington, Pratley, Gallagher, Morgan (Oshilaja 67), Bonne (Taylor 80), Leko. Not used: Maynard-Brewer, Ledley, Solly, Vennings. Booked: Matthews, Leko.

Hull: Long, Lichaj, De Wis, Burke, Batty (Bowler 46), Eaves (Honeyman 76), Irvine, Da Silva Lopez, Bowen, Grosicki, Elder (Lewis-Potter 64). Not used: Ingram, Tafazolli, Kingsley, Pennington. Booked: Irvine, Da Silva Lopez.

Referee: Andy Davies. Attendance: 14,447 (624 visiting).