Valley of Despair

Such hope as remained was extinguished by the 0-2 defeat of Charlton by Wolverhampton Wanderers at The Valley today. A young Charlton side played in a disjointed fashion and lacked the pace of their opponents. There were only two shots on target by the Addicks and the first of these came in the 71st minute.

Neither team imposed themselves in the first half. Towards the end the referee was poleaxed and there was a ten minute delay in the start of the second half while he was replaced. However, Wolves came out of the traps in determined fashion and scored after seven minutes, a Lennon own goal completing their total.

A call from the Covered End to 'Stand Up If You Want Them Out' received a good response from around the ground. Interim coach Karel Fraeye was booed off at the end of the game, but there was applause for skipper Johnnie Jackson. The unfortunate captain had a note passed to him by Fraeye during a break in play, but was unable to read whatever tactical gem it contained.

Having read Voice of the Valley it was not clear whether the approach for which Peter Varney was front man was for a minority stake or an acquisition. The Kuwaitis at Ebbsfleet may well have been involved. In any event, Varney got the brush off. There is no evidence that Roland wants to sell or that there will be a change of strategy. So we can expect more of the same.

The South London Press report is here: Tame effort

Stephen Henderson discusses the goals he let in here and appeals to fans to stick by the team: Hendo

Player ratings

Henderson probably could not have done anything about the two goals. He did make a couple of good saves. Despite the own goal Lennon put in a decent performance. Sarr was a little better than usual, but did have some dangerous moments such as passing the ball across the six yard line. Solly was the best player on the pitch. He made some good forward runs, intervened well defensively and won at least one 30/70 ball. Fox did get forward, but often looked nervous.

Jackson did make some contributions. Apart from one or two purple patches, Ba made a limited contribution. The loss of Lookman was a blow and diminished our second half performance. He had been getting forward well and troubling the Wolves defence. It was difficult to work out what Reza was meant to be doing. In any event he missed our best chance to score.

Vaz Te run around quite a bit, but didn't make much of an impact. I was surprised to see Ahearne-Grant starting and he failed to make an impression. But then, what was the alternative?

Makienok did manage to make contact with the ball with his head, but generally didn't send it anywhere useful. Holmes-Dennis did not make a great difference. The Ceballos cameo gave grounds for hope. He played the ball in well.