Defeat to league leaders

Charlton were defeated 3-1 by runaway league leaders at the CBS Arena this afternoon   Charlton took the michael by scoring an opening goal through Harvey Knibbs, but two home goals just before half time more or less sealed the result.

The Sky Blues have scored three goals in ten games this season

A sold out away end braved some wet Warwickshire weather to demonstrate their Addicktion.

After their opening goal the Addicks rose to 10th in the as it stands table, but ended up 17th.

Harvey Knibbs gave the visitors a surprise lead at the CBS Arena when he turned in Tyreece Campbell's deflected shot from six yards.

But the Sky Blues put themselves in front with two goals just before half-time as Josh Eccles scored from outside the box and Ellis Simms glanced in a header from a corner.

Charlton pushed for a leveller after the break before Simms poked in Coventry's 50th league goal of the season to seal victory.

Coventry have now won 11 of their past 12 matches and only lost once in the league all season.

Shell shocked supremo Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London: "I'm really disappointed with the manner of the goals (conceded) but the level of the performance I'm relatively happy.

"First half we had the majority of the chances - with a little bit more better decision making we'd have gone in further ahead.

"It's been tough week, Southampton, Stoke away and then the leaders away, especially when we're stretched as we are but I'm proud of the applicaiton.

"Now we have to go into December and stem the tide and come out of December in a significantly better position than we are now."

Black Friday acquisition 'a calculated gamble' admits supremo

Nathan Jones has told South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition that the club’s move for free agent Jerome Roussillon is a “calculated gamble”.  He would be allowed to play at today's game.

Roussillon, 32, has been a free agent since leaving Union Berlin in the summer.  He has also played for VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. Before that the Guadeloupe international, capped at U18 and U20 level by France, represented Sochaux and Montpellier.

Roussillon is closing in on 350 first-team matches and that includes 10 appearances in both the Champions League and Europa League.

He played for Guadeloupe in Gold Cup Group C matches against Panama and Jamaica in June.

Roussillon has been training with Charlton for a few weeks before signing. It was the same scenario with Hernandez. Both players are only on deals until the January transfer window.

“We had to have a look at him physically, in terms of things,” said Jones. “There are not many left-siders around in the free agent market, so you have to be very clever.

“He (Roussillon) is a left-back or more of an attacking full-back. He has got wonderful quality in the final third. So he will add that and he is very composed - he’s played several seasons in the Bundesliga.”

“He comes with a good pedigree. What we have to do is get him up to speed because pedigree-wise it is not a problem. He will provide good competition and he’s an excellent character.

“It’s a mini gamble but it’s a calculated one. It’s one we needed to take.”

Jones has praised head of recruitment Phil Chapple, appointed in May, for finding solutions to Charlton’s defensive deficiencies.  “I’m not sure there are not many players on the planet that Phil doesn’t know about,” said the Welshman.   Clearly he is no Chapple of Rest.

 

It's a really, really tough test admits shell shocked supremo

The Coventry Evening Telegraph looks at how Frank Lampard has transformed his career prospects and those of Coventry City: https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/frank-lampard-coventry-city-chelsea-32961942

The Sky Blues may be a promotion juggernaut, but Charlton fans have sold out the away end at the CBS Arena.

At home the Sky Blues have won eight and drawn too, scoring 22 and conceding six.   The Sky Blues have lost just one of their last fifteen league games at home against Charlton.   The stats do not make good reading for the Addicks: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3w788v340xo

I do remember winning at Highfield Road, but that was in the FA Cup.  This was in January 2000 when we came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2.

Coventry fans contemplate a shock Cup defeat by Charlton

Some Charlton fans have already identified T Campbell and Leaburn as scapegoat players, but football journos have been giving them relatively high ratings.

Nathan Jones gave Richard Cawley his excuses first on the journo's Substack page: 'We started this season well, lost players and stopped doing the basics a little bit. That is why we’ve got hurt. We have to reset and start doing what we do best - then results will come.'

'Coventry have been an outstanding attacking team and Frank has done a wonderful job. They were a really established Championship side anyway - they got to the play-off final and lose narrowly on penalties to Luton. They added again in the window under Mark Robins and when Frank came in he has probably taken them considerably further than where they were at..'

“They have invested wisely and got an excellent squad. They’ve got pace, quality and score goals so, of course, it is a really, really tough test. But it is 11 v 11 and we have to make sure that we are the best versions of ourselves. If we do all the basics right then it gives you a platform to win a football game.'

'That is what we haven’t done in the last couple of games.'

CAS Trust have difficiulty in finding words to discuss the prospects for the game: https://www.castrust.org/2025/11/nothing-to-lose-at-coventry/

Blue skies over Coventry

My eldest's home at Ryton is just down the road from the Coventry City training ground.   Not so long ago it was a forlorn sight, but now it is surrounded by high wooden fences to obstruct the view.  A cluster of Sly Blues fans can usually be seen hanging around outside in the hope of seeing one of their stars or perhaps even Frank Lampard himself.

Lampard was greeted with some scepticism when he was appointed manager by fans given his track record, but he has set the Sky Blues on the road to promotion.

Coventry fans have been through the mill.   Owned for many years by a hedge fund who seemed to have no strategy, they were reduced to watching their team at Northampton and even Birmingham City.  Now they are back in the excellent CBS Stadium, once used by the Wasps rugby team which went bust.

The club has been acquired by a Stratford upon Avon businessman and, no, he didn't make his money by selling Shakespeare tat.  There is some very serious money in Stratford.   I have only once been invited into one of the multi-millionaire homes along the River Avon (as you come in from Tiddington past the Home Guard ground) and it was very impressive.    In return for some free advice on the consequences of Brexit, I got a nice lunch and a chance to sample the lifestyle of the really opulent.

Stratford is associated with a particular kind of Englishness.    When I was freelancing for Sky I was asked on a slow news day to get down in front of the Shakespeare birthplace and talk about Englishness which I did as Japanese tourists clicked their cameras.

Now the Birthplace Trust has had to make big redundancies and close some premises, while all is not well at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.    For now, howver, half an hour after leaving home (in winter) I can enjoy world class theatre.

Quite a lot of central Stratford is owned by the town council and they paid for a new ground for the Bards (Stratford Town) with a nice stand and artificial training pitches.   I well remember Leamington beating Stratford at their old ground and starting a chart of 'Two-nil or not two nil?' after that became the score.  Bemused tourists were then greeted by a victory parade through the centre of Stratford.

There are some Coventry City supporters in Leamington, but many local residents would never go near Coventry which they refer to in unflattering terms.   Historically it was Villa territory, but there now seem to be a lot of Baggies supporters around.

I correctly forecast the result at Stoke at the beginning of the season and containment has to be the emphasis on Saturday to avoid a thumping.   The one thing that might help us is that Coventry feel that they just have to turn up on the pitch to claim three points, but that is clutching at straws.

Charlton slump at Stoke

Charlton moved down to 14th in the Championship after a 3-0 defeat at Stoke tonight.   Saturday's opponents Coventry moved ten points clear at the top of the table after winning at rivals Boro.

The defeat  away at Stoke was widely predicted, but has reinvigorated armchair managers.   I just feel sorry for those loyal fans who made the trek to the Potteries to see a disappointing performance.

Shell shocked manager Nathan Jones admitted that the performance was no good enough even given injury problems.   'We were not at the levels we needed to be.[

Stoke scored their first two goals within five minutes and added a third on 34 minutes due to a Kaminski error.   After that they were in cruise control.

Stoke scored with their first real foray into the Addicks' half, although the opener carried more than a touch of good fortune.

Eric-Junior Bocat's tenacity saw the ball poked out to the left, where Thomas made space to send over a cross which was well struck and the ball looped over Charlton keeper Thomas Kaminski.

It went from bad to worse for Charlton supremo Jones, returning to a club that he managed for 11 months in 2019, as they went 2-0 down after just five minutes.

Goalkeeper Viktor Johansson's long ball was contested by Potters' centre-forward Robert Bozenik and defender Lloyd Jones.   The Slovakian bundled his opponent out of the way, the ball falling to Thomas who found Manhoef on the right.   The winger was able to cut inside and deliver a low shot just inside Kaminski's right-hand post.

The Addicks conceded a third before half-time.   Bae Jun-Ho fed Thomas, again loitering on the left, but this time he cut back onto his right foot.

Bozenik and Kayne Ramsey contested the cross in front of keeper Kaminski who reacted late, the ball dribbling under his arms and crossing the goalline.

Charlton eventually threatened - Luke Berry testing Johansson from distance just after the hour mark - but Stoke substitute Sam Gallagher went closest to finding the net again with a late snapshot.

The ultimate away test?

It is said that the ultimate test in the EFL is a midweek winter's night game in Stoke and that is what Charlton face tonight.   After third placed Stoke they face runaway Coventry City on Saturday at the CBS Stadium so it could be a run of three games without a point.

Fans were more philosophical than I expected about the home defeat to Southampton, but the knives will be sharpening along the Kent coast if we suffer two more defeats.

At home Stoke have won four, drawn one and lost two, but have conceded just three goals so it will be a challenge for Charlton's often blunt attack.

Stoke did lose 2-1 at Leicester on Saturday due to what their manager described as two avoidable mistakes.   He felt that his players chose the wrong option too many times.  

The Addicks' brick wall: the Lloyd Jones story (part 1)

Yesterday's Football League Paper had a feature on the Addicks' 'brick wall' Lloyd Jones.  Here we look at the first part of his varied football journey.

In 2011 he was plucked from Plymouth's academy by Liverpool.  He was widely regarded as one of the most promising English defenders in his age group, but never got near Jurgen Klopp's first team.  (In my view top clubs like Liverpool often sign up talent just to stop their rivals getting hold of it rather than developing the player as happens at Charlton).

There were loans in the lower leagues and then a permanent move to Luton in 2018 led to six appearances in two years. On loan at Northampton, he opted not to take part in their victorious play off campaign. A proposed move fell through and along came Covid.  

Unable to find a club he returned to the family home in Plymouth, wen on bike rides and gradually rediscovered his love of the game.  He rejoined Northampton in 2020, played every single minute thereafter and was handed the captain's armband after four months.

Manager Jon Brady said of him, 'He's mature, he's a leader, he's decisive in his decision-making.  He is everything you want in a captain and an inspirational young guy as well.'

He then played 61 games in two years at Cambridge and cleaned up on the end of season awards in 2022/23.  Charlton saw his potential and signed him on a free in the summer of 2023.

Valley of Humiliation

I remember our first game in the Premier League when we beat Southampton 5-1, although their keeper was sent off.   I was not able to follow yesterday's game as I was a panelist at the University of Warwick's 60th anniversary celebrations, but just as we were able to start, a former colleague whispered 'Your lot are 1-5 down at half time.'

At first I thought it was a wind up given that even if we don't score many goals, we don't concede many.  Charlton are now in the bottom half of the table in 13th place.

Ryan Manning headed home the opener before Adam Armstrong and Caspar Jander made it 3-0 inside 20 minutes.  Finn Azaz then scored twice before the break, although Charlton managed to get one back just before half-time as Lloyd Jones headed home from a corner.

Southampton opened the scoring in the 14th minute as Manning crashed into the box and nodded the ball into the top corner of the net after a cross from the right.

Two minutes later, Armstrong doubled the lead, finding himself in space and seeing a shot blocked before following up with a lashed effort, high into the net from an angle on the left.

Saints' third goal was a fine footballing move as Gavin Bazunu started with the ball almost on his own goal line before then starting a sequence that saw Eckert's side work the ball beautifully up the pitch.

As they moved towards the halfway line, Armstrong swivelled in possession before playing Jander clean through on goal and he - after a fair dash - provided a composed, low finish with his right foot.

Azaz then made it four after Armstrong found his piercing run into the box and the summer signing took the ball around Charlton keeper Thomas Kaminski before slotting it home.

The Republic of Ireland international then scored a fifth for his side two minutes before half-time. Tom Fellows made a run down the right and then sent a powerful cross across the face of goal, with Azaz on hand to poke it home at the back post.

Just before the break, Charlton managed to get a goal back as Jones rose highest to head the ball home from a Sonny Carey corner.

Saints appeared to take their foot off the pedal in the second half and almost played themselves into trouble at times but managed to escape without conceding again.

This was just Charlton's second home loss of the season, their only other league defeat at The Valley coming against Leicester in August.

Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London:

"Give credit to them, for 20 minutes they were as good a side as we have seen at this level [but] could we have been a bit more aggressive? We did not do the things we normally do and that is basically what has cost us.

"We do not defend the box well enough for the first goal, we allow certain things to happen for the second which kind of kills it, and then they go up and level and make it three and four very quickly.

"We showed a lot of character in the second half, we tweaked it defensively – we were probably a little more reserved than we normally are. Credit to Southampton they were much better than us but that is a learning curve for us.

"We are stretched. We have four fit defenders and one could not play today because it is against his club; wingers in wing-back positions, so it's tough.  We did not quite get things right, we gave them too much respect."

"We were deep and weren't aggressive in winning that first ball that we normally do and then they had runners and quality and real technique to go and hurt us and we looked open, which is not something we normally do."

 

Jones loves his Charlton journey

Tomorrow's game against Southampton is attracting a lot of media attention and here are some extracts from a Times interview with Nathan Jones.

If you saw the way that Nathan Jones celebrated Sonny Carey’s 95th-minute winner against West Bromwich Albion this month — haring down the touchline, leaping on to the advertising hoardings and pumping his fists towards the sky like a man possessed — just think how a win for the Charlton Athletic manager against Southampton might be greeted on Saturday.

It’s three years this month since Southampton handed Jones a crack at the Premier League, an appointment that unravelled painfully quickly, ended with caustic chants inside St Mary’s and one young fan trying to hand the former Luton Town manager a giant, homemade P45, shortly before the real thing arrived.

Jones’s 95-day tenure is the eighth-shortest by a permanent manager in Premier League history, yet when he meets his previous employers for the first time in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off he does so with a spring in his step once again, five points and eight places better off than managerless Southampton.

Since Charlton appointed Jones in February 2024, his work at the Valley has been nothing short of remarkable. Jones inherited a side who had not won for 14 games and sat three points above the League One relegation zone. After steering them to safety, last season Jones returned the club to the Championship via the play-offs.

Only Stockport County and Birmingham City have collected more points in England’s top four tiers since the start of the year. A 1-0 defeat against Wrexham before the international break was only a second loss since August. Charlton, the least fancied of the three promoted clubs, are two points outside the play-offs, above big-spending Birmingham and Wrexham. Southampton, meanwhile, are searching for a fifth manager since Jones’s departure in February 2023.

Jones has lost none of the zeal and intensity that, over two spells, dragged Luton from the depths of League Two to the brink of the Premier League and made him one of the most coveted coaches in the EFL. Charlton — like Luton, but not Stoke or Southampton — were ready to buy into the Welshman’s idiosyncratic ways after painful ownership fiascos and eight of the past nine seasons spent in the third tier.

Like him or loathe him, those frenzied touchline celebrations are box-office viewing and there is no denying that, with total buy-in, the 52-year-old will make his club a force to be reckoned with. “I’m a passionate person,” says Jones, whose side are drawing in the largest crowds seen at The Valley since relegation from the Premier League 17 years ago.

“As a player, I tried to glean everything out of my playing career. I was energetic, I was front-footed, I was super fit and my teams, I think, are a reflection of that.

“I’m animated in those 90 minutes, and I have a certain persona, a bit Batman and Bruce Wayne. Sometimes I get carried away. Sometimes I do stuff that I look back on and think, ‘Ooh, that was touch and go there,’ or, ‘That was very close to the wire.’ But they’re authentic, they’re not fabricated.

Jones, a devout Christian, has a strong relationship with Charlton’s club chaplain, Matt Baker, who leads a dozen-strong prayer group before each game at the Valley. “We’re very proud of our faith at this football club and I’m convinced that’s why we’re in a good place,” Jones says.

While his Luton team romped League Two and League One playing a diamond midfield and expansive football, and by scoring a bucketload of goals, Jones has been on something of a tactical journey. Charlton’s approach this season rather captures the zeitgeist: they average the league’s second-lowest share of possession (43 per cent), have its second-meanest defence, have won 100 more aerial duels than any other team and have scored more goals from set plays (eight) than anyone but league leaders Coventry City.

“Now I’m at a club I love. I love the journey we’re on. I love the people I work with. I love my group. And yes, there are more talented groups. There are bigger budgets. There are shinier training grounds. But this is a proper football club. And we are nowhere near our ceiling yet. That’s the exciting thing.

“I feel at home in the fact that the people here have embraced me, the fans have embraced me, and in the work and the autonomy I get to do my job.

“God willing, that takes us back to the Premier League. Not me, us. Then I’ll be in a different starting point to where I was at Southampton.”

Jones wants bounce back against Saints

Talking to Richard Cawley, Nathan Jones makes it clear how appreciated he feels at Charlton, but regards the game against Southampton as simply one that has to be won.

“I feel very wanted and appreciated at this football club, hence the relationships I have with all the owners, the board and especially the fans now. I signed a new contract, so I got all the recognition I need.

“Every day I look at the group I work with and I absolutely love them. The way they work, the humility they show, how they want to get better and the interaction we have and they have with each other - it’s all the recognition I need.”

“I want us to bounce back because we lost our last game. The added edge will come from elsewhere. When we took four points from the games against West Brom and Swansea, I didn’t care where they came from. People say: ‘Yeah, but you’d have loved to have beaten Swansea’. I want to win a football game.

“I’m not putting an extra edge on this one because it is my old club. If you’re going to do that then I’ve got two of those games coming up.”

CAS Trust preview here: https://www.castrust.org/2025/11/nathan-welcomes-the-saints/

Jones more saint than devil

Nathan Jones was viewed with contempt when he left Southampton, but the local paper admits that he has many qualities, not least finding value in under appreciated players: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/25626886.southampton-set-jones-reunion-championship-returns/

Penalty pain for Charlton

Josh Windass netted a late penalty as Wrexham beat Charlton Athletic to earn a third successive home win in the Championship.

Nathan Jones' men had the better chances in what was an even opening half at the Stok Cae Ras - with Harvey Knibbs firing against the crossbar.

But the Welsh side carried the greater threat in the second half and had the game's decisive moment on 77 minutes as Windass scored his fifth goal of the season from the spot after Onel Hernández was penalised for a handball.

Victory extended Wrexham's unbeaten Championship run to five matches as Charlton's own five-game unbeaten streak in the league was ended.

The hosts survived a real scare just 40 seconds into the contest though as Isaac Olaofe was unable to prod the ball home after Sonny Carey's effort was saved by Arthur Okonkwo.

Wrexham settled and had their best opening on 17 minutes as Kieffer Moore teed up Max Cleworth from Issa Kabore's cross - with goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski tipping the defender's shot over.  Okonkwo reacted well to keep out James Bree's strike with his legs.

Both sides lacked a ruthless instinct in the final third, although the hosts were let off the hook in the 36th minute as Knibbs lashed against the crossbar from eight yards out after Dom Hyam slipped in his own box.

At the other end, Nathan Broadhead dragged a shot wide before Ryan Longman blazed over from a tight angle as the score remained level at the break.

Parkinson's men looked to turn the screw after the restart as Moore flashed a header across goal from George Thomason's inviting corner - with Longman firing well over soon after.

Josh Windass, Lewis O'Brien and James McClean replaced Broadhead, Thomason and Longman midway through the second half as Charlton sent on Hernández for Knibbs.

But the turning point came 15 minutes from time as referee Leigh Douhty awarded the hosts a penalty as substitute Hernandez handled McClean's cross.

Windass slotted his spot-kick into Kaminski's bottom left corner to break the deadlock with his first home goal for the club.

The game became stretched late on as Moore was well denied by Kaminski in the final stages.  Charlton came agonisingly close to equalising in the ninth minute of added time as Okonkwo tipped Luke Berry's header over/

Nathan Jones commented: "It's a moment of madness that's cost us at least a point.   I thought it was a tight game, we had a lot of chances in the first half and should have been ahead.  It's taken that bit of madness to break the deadlock. But I'm proud of the group for what they've given me because I can't ask for any more."

"We've come here twice now and been depleted with injuries. It seems like this place is a jinx. We just had to get to the international break, it gives us that respite. We're good in most areas, it's just defensively that we're a bit light. Bree couldn't take a set-play because of his groin."

 

Moore and Jones to battle it out

Nathan Jones is looking forward to the battle between Lloyd Jones and Kieffer Moore tomorrow - and has revealed he ran the rule over the Wrexham striker when he first started on the coaching ladder at Charlton Athletic.

Moore, 33, has been capped 52 times by Wales and scored nine times in 16 matches in all competitions this season, including a hat-trick against Coventry City in his last appearance at Stok Cae Ras.

Charlton vice-captain Jones has won 101 aerial duels in the Championship with only Moore able to better that, moving back into pole position with 105 after Wrexham’s 0-0 draw at Portsmouth on Wednesday evening.

Te manager said: “He is in a wonderful place. Some of the performances he puts in, you won’t see better defensive ones, at times. And he is a linchpin, in terms of our defensive responsibilities. We build a defensive structure around him. It allows the people who play around him to be the best versions of themselves, knowing he is that leader.

The Red Dragons drew 2-2 with the Addicks at The Valley in October last year, although Parkinson's men won the reverse fixture on home soil in April 3-0 - a result that earned the Welsh side promotion into the Championship.

Wrexham supremo and for mer Addicks boss Phil Parkinson admits there is an "edge" between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic as a result of the battles they had in League One last season.

Nathan Jones' men went on to gain promotion via the play-offs, and ahead of the meeting between the sides at Stok Cae Ras on Saturday (15:00 GMT), Parkinson said he is relishing the prospect of another exciting encounter with Charlton.

"It's going to be a really good game," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"I think it's going to be competitive and there's an edge between both teams after our competition last year.

"They're very Wrexham supremo Phil Parkinson admits there is an "edge" between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic as a result of the battles they had in League One last season.much similar to how they played last year, a similar shape and they've made a few improvements and some shrewd signings. They've done really well.

"We know Charlton are going to be very competitive in terms of the way they play, similar to the Portsmouth game in many respects, but we're prepared for that."

CAS Trust reckon Wrexham are something of a bogy team for Charlton: https://www.castrust.org/2025/11/is-another-hollywood-ending-in-store/

BBC: Charlton moving in right direction for promotion

Injury hit Charlton moved up to fifth in the Championship table by beating West Brom with a goal in the sixth minute of added time.

Addicks midfielder Greg Docherty had a first-half penalty saved by visiting goalkeeper Josh Griffiths and in a game of few clear cut chances the contest had looked destined to finish goalless.

But a long range effort from Sonny Carey, which took a deflection off substitute Chris Mepham and beat the dive of Griffiths, delivered the hosts a late three points.  Charlton extended a superb run of just one defeat in 10.

The win also put another brick in the formidable defences being built by Nathan Jones and his side at The Valley where they have lost just one match in 24 in all competitions stretching back to December last year.

West Brom will be left wondering how they came away with nothing, but in truth, while their approach play delivered chances, particularly in the first half, their finishing and decision making in front of goal left plenty to be desired.

The best chance of the lot fell to the hosts after they were awarded a penalty when Ousmane Diakite was deemed to have handled under pressure from Miles Leaburn just after the half-hour mark.

The midfielder argued long and hard with referee Lewis Smith but in the end it mattered little as Docherty's telegraphed spot-kick was easily kept out by Griffiths diving low to his left.

The second period saw more life from both sides with Price forcing a fine save from Thomas Kaminski on 50 minutes, despite better options being available to his left.

And Carey served notice four minutes later of what was to come with a straight snap shot from distance which Griffiths kept out superbly diving low to his right to tip around the near post.

With the game heading into added time a point apiece seemed fair and generally acceptable to all parties, but a corner from the left for Charlton found its way to Carey on the edge of the box.

Gathering the ball and turning back towards goal he took one last speculative swing of his boot to earn his side three points and spark wild celebrations with the substitutes and management team on the touchline.

The  BBC commented, ‘Ipswich secured back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League in 2022-23 and 2023-24 and while there is still a long way to go to emulate their rise, Charlton are moving in the right direction.’

Nathan Jones on Sonny Carey: “He is positive in everything he does. "Every pass and touch he has is forward. Whatever run he makes is forward. Every shot zings or tests something. He has been an absolute revelation and it’s why we’ve brought him to the football club."

Nathan Jones just made an appreciative noise when he talked about Ibby Fullah. "I don't think he made a bad touch all night. I told him to light the place up - and he did."

 

Baggies firing blanks

Charlton have their injury woes, with unconfirmed rumors saying that Kelman has suffered a training ground injury, but tonight's opponents, West Bromwich Albion, have a number of midfield players out of action.

The Baggies have won four games away, more than they have at home, but have lost three.

They have now failed to score in three of their last five matches a nd head coach Ryan Mason says they have to be sharper in front of goal.  He said, 'We need to get inside the minds and bodies of the group to sniff out chances.'   Against Sheffield Wednesday, Mason felt that his side displayed anxiety and a lack of conviction.

Short at the back

Unless there is an exceptionally magic sponge in the medical room at Sparrows Lane, Charlton manager Nathan Jones is set to be without three defenders for the visit of West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday writes Richard Cawley.

Josh Edwards (ankle), Bell (hamstring) and Burke (foot) are all expected to miss out. Ramsay would, you expect, deputise for Burke at right-sided centre-back. It’s a change that likely would have happened anyway, even if the former Luton Town man was fit.  Campbell probably gets the left wing-back gig.

It leaves Charlton stretched defensively but they only have two matches to navigate before the international break.

The next chance to quiz Jones on the severity of the injuries to Bell and Burke will be in his post-match press conference after the game against West Brom.

If either is out for any serious length of time it hampers the ability to rotate. Not great timing, when you consider that Charlton play 10 games between November 22 and January 1.

Bell chimes with Addicks

Amar'i Bell reckons that the Charlton squad shows the same 'hunger' that saw his former club Luton promoted to the Premier League against all the odds.

'When somebody has something to prove and a hunger to achieve that is always going to work well, especially when there are so many people who want the same thing,' the 31-year old told the Football League Paper.  'Even myself, having got to the Premier League before, has made me hungrier to do it again.'

'What we have got now isn't the Luton spirit,' he insisted.  'It's a spirit the manager created with the character of all the personnel he broughtt in.   He knows what he wants to get out of the lads.  He drivesd standards and has an intensity that he wants to play at.'

'The fans have been amazing.   They give us extra motivation and help.   To hear them going crazy when we've made a goal-line clearance or put that strong tackle in lifts your energy levels.'

Kelman scores first Charlton goal

Swansea City fought back to claim a point at The Valley as Adam Idah's sharp finish cancelled out Charlie Kelman's first Charlton Athletic goal.

Kelman steered in from close range via the underside of the bar when Swansea failed to deal with Conor Coventry's hopeful ball into the box in the opening seconds of the second half.

But Swansea levelled as Republic of Ireland international Idah scored only his second goal – and his first from open play – since his £6m move from Celtic two months ago.   After volleying one effort narrowly over, Idah was given time to turn 20 yards from goal and took full advantage, arrowing a low shot into the net via the base of the post.

The draw extends Charlton's unbeaten run to four games, and means they have now lost only once in their past 23 home fixtures in all competitions.

Nathan Jones' team drop to eighth in the table.

The first half of was scrappy, with Macaulay Gillesphey coming closest to a goal with a header which was brilliantly saved by Lawrence Vigouroux.

Gillesphey may have been fortunate to still be on the pitch by that point, after the Charlton defender's sliding challenge on Eom Jisung in the first minute of the game went unpunished.  Swansea felt Gillesphey should have been sent off as Eom was running through on goal, but referee David Webb decided there had been no foul.

Nathan Jones said this was the toughest Swansea side he had faced.   He was disappointed that Charlton had been unable to impose themselves.

Coventry expected to start today

One midfielder who is expected to come straight back into the starting line-up for tomorrow’s visit of Swansea City is Conor Coventry.  The former Republic of Ireland U21 international was benched for the 1-1 draw at Hull City.

“He (Coventry) had a big fall-off in his energy for the Preston game, which was his third match in a week,” Nathan Jones told Conor Coventry.

“We don’t want him to get injured or suspended.  So we wanted to mix it up (at Hull City, when Charlton again played three games in eight days), try something with two attacking midfielders rather than two sixes.”

“Conor is a six and Doc is more of a six/eight while the other two are eight/tens. We were very, very bold in trying that. I was pleased with how we came through that because it shows we have other things we can do.

“Plus we have Karoy, Joe (Rankin-Costello), Ibby and Bez (Luke Berry) to come in. It is important to freshen everything up. This Championship is relentless. I could easily have changed the whole midfield [at Hull], but I wanted to have a little bit of continuity and try to evolve stuff.

“We need Conor to be the best version of himself. He has been outstanding for me. Will that be the case (that he comes back out of the team when Charlton head to Wrexham) next Saturday? I don’t know.”