Wednesday 9 April 2014

José Riga's Red Army

That was the chant of the Covered End yesterday evening as they celebrated Charlton's 3-2 win over Yeovil at The Valley. The crowd set up a 'Chris Powell' roar and Johnnie Jackson responded by jumping out of the tunnel.

The win puts the Addicks six points ahead of Yeovil and five ahead of Barnsley who lost at home to Burnley. Millwall's surprise win at Wigan means that they are only two points behind Charlton, but the Addicks are only one point behind Birmingham and two behind Blackpool and Doncaster. They have two games in hand over all these three clubs and play Blackpool away in the last game of the season.

Charlton lived dangerously at times and the two goals conceded were down to poor defensive mistakes. The five minutes of time added on were an agony.

The starting line up did not include Lawrie Wilson who has injured his eye socket, but may be able to play as a 'masked man' against Brighton. The absence of a proper right back did cost us as Morrison is really not any good in that role. Ideally, Chris Solly would be available and our season might have been very different if he had not been injured. I would have considered Hughes or ever Nego who is a right back, but Riga does not seem to favour him.

Astrit Ajdarevic opened the scoring for Charlton on nine minutes when he collected a loose ball on the halfway line, beat one Yeovil challenge and fired past keeper Chris Dunn into the bottom corner. However, Charlton are often vulnerable when they have scored and Yeovil were level within two minutes, as James Hayter found Grant, whose shot was deflected in off Richard Wood after what looked like amateurish defending.

Hayter then scuffed a chance from eight yards out, before Reza Ghoochannejhad missed a good chance from close range. Joe Ralls had two chances in as many minutes for Yeovil, fizzing a shot just over from 20 yards and forcing keeper Ben Hamer to stop his left-footed drive, before Tom Lawrence hit the bar direct from a corner.

At the other end Dunn made a superb save to tip a Sordell shot around the post before half-time when the striker was one on one with the keeper. Dunn was helpless when Dervite powered home a 48th-minute header from Johnnie Jackson's corner. Sordell then added a third, tapping in after Dunn failed to hold Ghoochannejhad's right-wing cross.

Yeovil substitute Moore ensured a tense finish when he slotted into an empty net following a defensive mix-up on 74 minutes. Hamer came charging out of his goal and there was insufficient cover behind him when he left the goal exposed. This goal came at a time when I thought Charlton were on top and it made for some anxious closing minutes.

Charlton played a more direct game of a rather old fashioned English style than they did against Reading, with less pretty passing, but it seems to have worked.

Ivy the Terrible has once again awarded the Silver Bone to Diego Poyet who showed real skill and determination, but this time it has been engraved with 'Diego Poyet: he's better than Gus' in honour of the Covered End chant. Hamer couldn't do much about the two goals, although he shouldn't have rushed out for the second one. His distribution came in for some criticism from the row behind me. Morrison was played out of position and can't even do throw ins, getting caught out once for a foul throw. Dervite scored an excellent goal and was generally solid, he can be forgiven for putting a free kick way over the bar, however he and Wood seemed to have some difficulty in playing effectively together. Wiggins had a sparking performance and was a real threat going forward. Ajdarevic scored a great goal from distance, but clearly is not fully fit which is why he had to be substituted, earning warm applause when he went off. Cousins is a great battling midfield player and had one excellent run down the right. Jackson put in some good corners, although one of his free kicks was disappointing Reza showed some good touches, providing the assist for the third goal. A shame that he bottled out from a challenge on the halfway line. I told those around me that Sordell would score, they were not convinced, but he did It was a better performance. His shot at the tunnel was dire, but he had few options. Obika earned some boos from the Glovers when he came on as a substitute, but didn't offer very much. Harriott looked lightweight when he came on. Great to see Cort returning for a cameo.

Rescue Cat Reg came in from a night on the tiles when I returned shortly before 1 a.m. He considered giving the Hiss of the Match to the referee who was reluctant to hand out yellow cards in response to persistent fouling by the Glovers, but instead Reg has given it to Yeovil's lime green fluorescent kit with horizontal stripes. This is the first time the hiss has been given to a team's kit and the style police are investigating, starting with those Yeovil supporters wearing it in the Jimmy Seed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hello Wyn, not sure when we last played Plymouth......

Martin Cowan