Football often spoils an otherwise good day out. Charlton fans have been celebrating the sale of the club by Roland to ESI and their feeling of euphoria was only slightly dented by a not unexpected 1-0 defeat by Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium this evening.
Charlton fans stayed behind to clap the team off. Congratulations to our loyal travelling support who made the journey close to the fringes of the wilder and woollier parts of Wales.
Dhanda finished off a smart team move with a 20-yard effort to put Swansea in front after just 14 minutes. It was the 21-year-old's second goal of the season, with both strikes coming against Charlton.
Steve Cooper's men missed a number of chances to extend their lead as they dominated the first half. Swansea grew in confidence, with the Addicks giving the ball away cheaply and allowing their hosts too much time to play.
The disappointment for Swansea was that they were not further ahead at half time against a weakened Charlton side who had lost Macaulay Bonne through injury. He was, of course, playing non-league last season.
Phillips made a fine save to deny Ayew after he was picked out by Wayne Routledge, and seconds later Byers' drive crashed back off the post. Roberts also flashed a shot narrowly over the top in a first half which saw just one notable Charlton effort, Tom Lockyer heading Conor Gallagher's corner straight at Freddie Woodman.
Charlton withdrew far from fully fit Lyle Taylor at half time. According to Louis Mendez, he has suffered a thigh injury. 'It doesn't look good,' said shell shocked supremo Lee Bowyer,
Even so, the Addicks improved after the break and made Swansea work hard to hold on for a victory which moves them up to sixth in the table. Substitute Alfie Doughty, brought back from non-league Bromley, almost levelled early in the second half when he broke the offside trap and raced clear only to drag a shot just wide of the post.
Swansea suffered a setback as centre-back Mike van der Hoorn - who was making his comeback from a knee problem - was forced off injured, and their defence was almost breached moments later as the unmarked Josh Davison, also an arrival from non-league, headed wide.
Byers might have ended Charlton's revival midway through the second half but his powerful effort was beaten away by Phillips. The visitors piled on the pressure in the closing stages, Woodman getting down well to deny debutante Davison in the last few seconds of stoppage time.
In general, however, the Newcastle loanee had relatively little to do during the game or as local sources put it, 'Anaml y byddai Charlton yn trafferthu.'
Swansea did start to sag in midfield towards the end of the game. For Charlton it was all boy's own stuff, but the valiant efforts of the youngsters were not enough to secure a point.
It was a welcome home triumph for the Abertawe side, who had only won two of their previous 10 games on their own patch. Charlton, meantime, have now won only once in 14 matches.
Desmond from Deal welcomed the new owners: 'They will soon see that a new manager is needed and they will have the wherewithal to be able to give Bowyer a decent pay off to develop his fishing lake business in France' said the near neighbour of the Kingsdown resident.
More sensibly, Jimmy Stone commented on Twitter: 'An over reliance on youth has been synonymous with Duchâtelet's time at Charlton. The result of that was again evident tonight. A pathway for our academy is great, but throwing players in too early damages them. One of a long list of things ESI must try to put right.' Amen to that.
CAFC Facts and Stats commented, 'No league football now for nine days. Fingers crossed on one or two back from injury plus another one through the door to join Green.'
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