Saturday, 22 August 2026

Victory north of the river

What is wrong with Wesr Ham?' will be the media story tomorrow, but Charlton fans will be celebrating an unexpected 2-1 win at the London Stadkum.

It was a case of deja vu when Charlton's goals were scored first by captain Lloyd Jones on seven minutes and then by Tyreece Campbell.

An underwhelming home side pulled one back on 74 minutes.  They then had a chance to equalise when Conor Coventry hand balled in the box, but hit the post from the penalty spot.

Charlton are 2nd in the table behind the Spanners on goal difference.

I featured Charlton fan and author Charlie Connelley yesterday and today is his 56th birthday.

Lloyd Jones opened the scoring with an early overhead kick after the hosts allowed Sonny Carey's long throw-in to bounce inside their penalty area.

Seven days after securing Charlton's win over the Rams, man of the matchTyreece Campbell was in clinical form again to dispossess the dithering Konstantinos Mavropanos, enter the box and curl in shortly after the break to double the lead in front of a sell-out crowd of 62,500, including more than 3,000 gleeful Addickted.

West Ham’s coach Nuno Espirito Santo was unimpressed to see Miles Leaburn gifted the ball for a run that ended with the forward sending a fierce shot wide, summing up a first half in which Charlton proved considerably more dangerous than their opponents in the first league edition of this fixture since 2007.

Despite their lack of cutting edge, West Ham could have levelled seconds before the interval when Castellanos had a glorious chance to take his tally to four goals in his past five home league games, only to plant a header straight at Arthur Okonkwo when Ollie Scarles' curling cross found the forward unmarked in front of goal.

Nuno sent on Lewis Orford for Mohamadou Kante in midfield for the second half, which his side began by applying ample pressure before more sloppiness afforded Campbell a chance the Jamaica international took to double Charlton's lead.

Making his Charlton bow, Okonkwo brilliantly tipped Divine Mukasa's drive away as part of an inspired display against an attack featuring new West Ham signing Arne Engels, as well as home debutant Manor Solomon.

Piroe, having seen a goal ruled out after the ball had gone out of play before his finish, pulled one back to give the hosts hope.

The lively Jarrod Bowen created further opportunities and Castellanos skimmed a header narrowly wide as Nuno's players pushed to replicate Burnley's comeback against them at Turf Moor.

Castellanos looked poised to complete the comeback in last-gasp fashion, but his miss ensured the celebrations and relief belonged to Charlton after a gritty, incisive display that ensured they joined Millwall as the only teams to have won both of their first two Championship matches.

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