Saturday 24 October 2009

A2 derby ends in draw

Today's A2 derby at Gillingham ended in a 1-1 draw which means that Charlton stay in second place, writes Erith Addick Paul May. With Leeds losing at Millwall, Charlton are one point behind the leaders, but just one point ahead of Colchester United who won with the assistance of Kevin Lisbie. However, MK Dons lost at Southampton and Bristol Rovers went down at home to Yeovil.

Charlton started again with a 4-4-2 formation with McLeod and Burton up front and Shelvey on the bench again. As expected, Semedo started in place of Spring and Sodje retained his place.

Racon had an early attempt from just outside the box which went wide of the post. Elliot saved from Bentley. Burton received a yellow card. An attempt by Sodje went way over the bar. McLeod blazed wide from the deep inside the penalty area. Fishlungs charm merchant Nutter received a yellow card for fouling Sam.

Semedo blocked a shot by Oli. A corner was cleared by Sam, leading to a second, which was dealt with by Richardson. Another Nutter corner threatened danger but Richardson was able to clear. Semedo took a shot, but Gowling was able to block it.

Half time: Gills 0, Addicks 0

Elliot saved from an early effort by Jackson. Youga cleared from a Gills corner taken by Nutter. This led to a second corner and this time Burton made the clearance for a third corner. This time Racon got the ball away.

Following a Charlton corner, the Addicks received a free kick for a foul on Semedo. Bailey's effort was saved by Royce. Elliot saved from Barcham. Youga cleared from a Gills corner. From the following corner, Bentley took a shot but Richardson was able to block it. Richardson was then replaced by Basey.

Youga had a try from outside the box but it went wide of the post. Sodje was booked for a foul. This was followed by a booking for Weston and then for Christian Dailly for a foul.

Burton had a shot, but Royce saved at the expense of a corner. This was taken by Basey, but Dailly's headed effort missed the target. Elliot made a succession of saves from Bentley, Oli and Nutter. The last one led to a corner, but the reliable Youga cleared. Mooney replaced McLeod on 76 minutes.

Charlton went ahead on 78 minutes when Gills centre half John Nutter sliced a clearance from a Racon cross into his own net. But just two minutes later Jackson equalised with a goal from inside the box low into the middle of the goal.

A long range effort from Youga went wide of the target. A shot for the Gills by Lewis also went wide. Former Addick Barry Fuller tried a shot but Sodje blocked it.
At the end of normal time Wagstaff replaced Sam while former Addick Rashid Yussuff replaced Oli. The four minutes of time added on never looked like producing a winner for either side. It might have been a different story if McLeod had not had an early penalty appeal waved away.

Match report to follow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very disapointed with the way CAFC played today, but more disapointed with the lack of support given by the fans.......I was stuck in one of the upper corners of the stand....if you can call it that, but there were hadley any songs or cheers for our team either in the 1st or 2nd half........a total difference from Orient where we sang and cheered all night and really lifted the team, we did not do that today and we were lucky to come away with a point.

Ken Jennings said...

Yup - its all the fans fault...please...!!
I do feel guilty but it is not that I did not sing our boys to victory -it is because Brian Cole worked his butt off this week and managed to get me a ticket, which at the last moment I could not use and HE had to go. And now, according to 'Anon', he is one of those responsible for an abject display - and the ridiculous starting selection of Izale McClown????.
Thanks for taking the blame, Brian. That could have been me ;-)