The Addicks avoided embarrassment against seventh-tier Coalville Town yesterday – but didn’t have it all their own way. KEVIN NOLAN reports.
A victory, which was not quite as routine as the scoreline suggests, sent Charlton through to the second round of the FA Cup at the expense of Coalville Town. Until they tired, the Southern Central Premier League visitors gave a good account of themselves, before their hosts put them firmly in their place with two late goals.
After cruising through a first half and retiring for their half-time refreshments well in command, the Addicks gave the Ravens the sniff of a chance by clumsily conceding a goal which halved their lead and left them vulnerable to an admittedly unlikely equaliser. Encouraged by their faithful fanbase (including, unfortunately, a few charmless renegades along for the ride), Town beavered away without, it should be said, ever coming close to drawing level.
Earning respect and appreciation for naming a strong side to do the job, Ben Garner must have purred with satisfaction as his men produced a first half performance of skill, pace and power. Anchored by the ever-reliable George Dobson, while Jack Payne and Tyreece Campbell tore holes in the visiting defence, Charlton were clearly in no mood to make the headlines as fall guys in a Cup upset.
The only cloud on Garner’s horizon was the painful 17th-minute withdrawal of Terell Thomas, injured in the act of innocuously fouling Tom McGlinchey. There was no immediate loss of quality in the premature introduction of Zach Mitchell – not 18 until January – but Thomas now joins Eoghan O’Connell in the treatment room. Charlton’s centre-back roster begins to look threadbare, though Ryan Inniss has now completed his two-game suspension.
In the shorter term, Mitchell solved the problem on Saturday. Always willing to bring the ball out of defence, his contribution was constructive and aggressive. Charlton’s storied academy seems certain to send up another star from their talented ranks.
It was the selfless Dobson, meanwhile, who provided the invaluable conduit between defence and attack. Always available, constantly in motion, his passing was spot-on, his reading of the game flawless. Never fancied by Nigel Adkins, Charlton were in danger, at one point, of losing this inspirational performer. They came that close!
Without quite pinning down a starting place, Payne is also starting to make himself indispensable. A wide midfielder with an eye for goal, it was this pocket battleship who put Charlton in front shortly after Thomas’s regrettable departure. Drifting infield as Albie Morgan and Steven Sessegnon combined to find space for Campbell’s accurate cross from the left, the shortest player on the pitch headed firmly wide of Paul White.
It was Payne’s second headed goal of the season, which goes to show that if you’re good enough, you’re also tall enough. And Jack’s good enough.
Well on top, the Addicks stepped on the gas and Jayden Stockley clipped the bar before Charlton’s hard-grafting skipper doubled their lead in first-half added time. Stockley himself forced the left wing corner off Jake Eggleton, which Payne swung over and he glanced downward past Payne. It was all too easy -and so it seemed at the time.
Up front for Coalville, the sturdy figure of Ashley Chambers had been his side’s best hope of recovery. Before Stockley scored, he had volleyed their solitary chance into the side netting. Seven minutes after the break, he went one better by reducing Town’s deficit. Showing predatory instincts, he pounced on a weak defensive header by Sam Lavelle and, as Joe Wollacott left his line to restore order, lobbed neatly over the keeper’s head into his vacated net.
Chambers’s reply abruptly changed the narrative. While never under pressure, Charlton were also haunted by the unthinkable thought that a second Ravens’ goal would open up the most uninviting of scenarios.
With neither extra-time nor penalties an option, a replay somewhere in Leicestershire loomed, if not large, then at least, medium-sized. For almost a half hour, this Sword of Damocles hung over their heads until Payne swatted it away with his second goal of a needlessly fraught afternoon.
Accepting the excellent Sessegnon’s ball into feet, his first touch was immaculate under Chris Robertson’s touch-tight pressure. Turning on the modern version of the old sixpence, Payne whipped a crisp daisycutter neatly inside the right-hand post.
Charlton – and Garner – could breathe freely again. There was to be no inconvenient midweek trip to “plucky” Coalville, while the rest of the football world revelled in their discomfort, and mercifully no further exposure to those twerps who had attached themselves to the Town loyalists.
Ravens manager Adam Stevens and his resilient team were themselves above reproach and hardly deserved the 90th minute coup-de-grace administered by the inevitable Chuks Aneke. Having taken over from the honest-to-goodness Stockley, Aneke had made his presence felt without reward until Sessegnon’s perceptive pass provided him with room to blast home an unstoppable fourth goal.
Garner’s strong selection was vindicated by a solid, workmanlike performance, to which every player contributed. The respect he showed the FA Cup was a reproach to many of his predecessors. His attitude to the League Cup will become clear at Stevenage in midweek, but changes are inevitable.
If Mitchell, Campbell, Aaron Henry, and Richard Chin provide reliable evidence, those changes won’t appreciably weaken the quality available to him. Hungry eyes… these kids have hungry eyes.
Charlton: Wollacott, Clare (Chin 74), Thomas (Mitchell 18), Lavelle, Dobson (Henry 46), Morgan, McGrandles (Forster-Caskey 74), Payne, Campbell, Sessegnon, Stockley (Aneke 68). Not used: McGillivray, Kanu, Dench, Rylah.
Coalville: White, Dean, Putman, Eggleton, Robertson, Thanoj (Wilson 61), Shaw (Chitiza 79), Doyle-Charles, Berridge (Kee 56), Chambers, McGlinchey. Not used: Laban, Smith, Taylor, Towers.
Referee: Lewis Smith. Attendance: 4,707 (1,670 visiting).
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