Karlan Ahearne-Grant has been sent back by Cambridge United who will not be renewing his loan. He made one start and two substitute appearances during his stay at the Abbey Stadium: Return
This is what happens when promising young players are brought into the first team too early to shore up a thin squad.
Charlton progressed to the third round of the League One cup with a 4-1 victory over Peterborough tonight. They will face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Charlton put out a youthful side at the former London Road with six Academy products featuring in front of a crowd of 2,771, of whom about 600 were Addickted. Mikhail Kennedy made his first start with Lennon at left back and Charles-Cook at right back. Jordan Cousins was named as captain. Harriott started on the right. Igor Vetokele was on the bench. Peterborough had a 3-5-2 formation.
Mikhail Kennedy scored for Charlton after two minutes, slamming the ball into the back of the net, Alnwick spilling the ball. Harriott and Ahearne-Grant linked up in the build up to the goal and Bergdich got a touch.
Ahearne-Grant put in a shot that was again spilt by Alnwick but Bergdich was not able to connect. Posh put in a strike that went wide. Lennon dealt well with Taylor.
Kennedy put in a great ball, but Harriott fluffed his header. Posh broke away, giving them a free kick in a dangerous position with Lennon getting a yellow card for the foul. The delivery was poor and it was cleared by Cousins.
Peterborough got the first corner of the game. Harriott hacked the ball clear. Harriott put in a shot after good play by Cousins when Ahearne-Grant and Kennedy were available as better options. Harriott then skewed a shot wide as Ahearne-Grant and Kennedy turned away in frustration.
Peterborough were getting into the game a bit more. They were putting a lot of pressure on their right hand side. Pope had to make a good save at the expense of a corner. Cousins headed the ball away well. Ba went down off the ball with a problem with his right leg and did not look comfortable.
Lennon hacked the ball away from a corner. Subsequently he put in a great tackle on the dangerous Taylor. A free flowing move saw Bergdich unable to connect properly. Kennedy put a great flick into the path of Cousins who should have passed to Bergdich.
Charlton got their first corner. Charles-Cook stopped the counter attack.
Charlton could have been further ahead if their decision-making on the final ball had been better.
HT: Posh 0, Addicks 1
Peterborough won an early corner as Ba went down again. The ball went on to the roof of the goal.
Charlton approached well with Bergdich putting a good ball in but Harriott shot over.
Great play from Kennedy won Charlton a penalty. Ahearne-Grant took a composed penalty and put the ball into the left-hand corner to make it 2-0. The Addickted were in great voice as Peterborough attempted an attack.
A shot from Harriott was blocked. Hand balls by Peterborough were ignored by the Lincolnshire referee.
Shouts of ‘Igor’ were heard from the Addickted. Nick Pope held the ball well after good play by the home side. The energetic but sometimes wayward Harriott was replaced by Vetokele.
Peterborough won a corner after a great tackle by Sarr. Nick Pope dived on to the ball.
Jordan Cousins came off and gave the armband to Bauer as Kashi came on. Bauer defended well against Taylor. A low cross was intercepted well by Sarr.
Charlton won a corner after a good save by Alnwick following good play by Ahearne-Grant.
Charles-Cook had to clear after a Taylor free kick. Charlton counter attacked, Kashi’s shot came off the foot of the post and Kennedy was not able to take a half chance.
Boswick got a yellow card for a shocking tackle. He then shoved Vetokele in the back. Pope had to come off his line to deal with a counter attack.
Kashi scored an amazing goal from not far past the halfway line from at least 40 yards. Video clip here: Kashi goal Bergdich who had been looking leggy was substituted, 20-year old Oliver Muldoon coming on for his first team debut.
Lennon defended a corner well. Pope had to save well.
Pope had to palm away a free kick by Madison. The corner was cleared by Lennon. The counter attack was caught offside.
A strong kick upfield by Nick Pope found Ahearne-Grant and a great cross by Olly Muldoon then allowed Igor Vetokele to make it 4-0 with a volley.
Great play by Ahearne-Grant won Charlton a corner as the Addickted chanted ‘we want five’, but Alnwick claimed well.
Bauer dealt well with a Posh attack. A corner was headed away by Kashi. Four minutes were added on. The home side got a goal back, it was a sloppy goal to concede. Sarr and Bauer cleared another attack. Pope collected a tame shot well.
Karlan Ahearne-Grant reflects on his first goal for Charlton for the FA website: Ahearne-Grant
Voice of the Valley editor Rick Everitt normally leans towards the pessimistic tendency but has tweeted from his Ramsgate den: 'So impressed with Tony Watt in the first two games. New signings look encouraging, but Watt is the difference, as he was in the spring.'
Saturday's opponents Derby County lost 2-1 in the League Cup last night. One shouldn't read too much into that, although apparently they put a decent side out.
It was an evening when some Championship sides were embarrassed. Brentford lost 0-4 at home to Oxford and Blackburn Rovers were defeated at home by Shrewsbury. Seven Championship sides were defeated, while elsewhere Barnet beat Millwall. However, Charlton secured a convincing 4-1 win over Dagenham & Redbridge to go through to the second round of the League Cup.
The Addicks took the lead on 26 minutes when Tony Watt latched onto a Johnnie Jackson pass to fire the ball past Mark Cousins. Karlan Ahearne-Grant doubled their lead with his first Addicks goal before Zakaraya Bergdich scored on his Charlton debut to make it three. Christian Doidge put Dagenham back in it but Reza Ghoochannejhad scored a late goal to send Charlton through.
Watt turned provider as he sent the ball into the box for Bergdich to calmly finish.
Bauer and Serr were steady at the back. Nick Pope seemed vulnerable to any low shots fired straight at him. He nearly got caught out twice.
Attendance was 5,100.
South London Press report is here: Good win
The Crown Berger cup will be back in the trophy room at The Valley this evening after Charlton made a good start to their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 victory over Welling United at Park View Road.
Both goals were scored by Karlan Ahearne-Grant in the first nine minutes. Bauer looked a strong addition to the team. The second half was very different, a young team which levelled things up more. Welling themselves hit the woodwork twice and tested Pope.
The attendance was 2,100. It was very hot.
There was a pitch invasion at the end of the game, but not of the type that led Blackpool's pre-season opener to be abandoned.
If you were worried about Gudmundsson's absence, he was at a concert at Wembley last night according to his tweets.
Jason Euell and his development side last night won the 126th Kent FA Senior Cup Final at Gillingham 1-0 with an excellent goal scored by Karlan Ahearne-Grant. It wasn't a particularly good game but the result was right. Karlan got man of the match and Dillon Phillips in goal made a good save to keep Gillingham out. This was only the second time the two teams had met in the final (the last time being in 1995 when Charlton won 4-2.
According to a tweet from Peter Finch, Gillingham put out a number of first team players.
Karlan Ahearne-Grant has been called up for the England under 18s for their double header against Poland. Here he talks about how the confidence that Bob Peeters has shown in him has been a boost and how he thinks his play has benefitted as a result of playing alongside older players: Ahearne-Grant
Elsewhere Ipswich boss Mick McCarty has said that teams like Charlton could be priced out of promotion by the dilution of the Football League's financial fair play rules: Fair Play
Charlton voted against the rule change and have complained about its effects. It is certainly a setback for Roland's strategy.
Charlton lost their unbeaten record with a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth this afternoon, hours after Nottingham Forest experienced their first defeat at Cardiff. The Addicks are now 8th in the table.
The Cherries were ahead within three minutes as a corner was not cleared and Callum Wilson met Marc Pugh's left-wing cross with a close-range finish. Charlton went close when Johann Berg Gudmundsson curled in a free-kick but Artur Boruc tipped it round the post. Keeper Stephen Henderson kept Charlton in the game after the break with a fine low save from Andrew Surman.
The Addicks were still finding their feet when a stray pass from Gudmundsson fell to Matt Ritchie, whose left-foot piledriver was parried by Henderson for a corner, from which Pugh's trickery deceived Chris Solly, and Callum Wilson found room in a crowded box to slot home his eighth of the season. That was only the third time all season that Bob Peeters's side had gone behind and Wilson nearly doubled the lead when he deflected Ritchie's low free-kick goalwards but the ball was blocked.
Tommy Elphick’s last-ditch saving tackle denied Karlan Ahearne-Grant a shooting chance before the young Addicks striker’s low drive was blocked by Steve Cook with Johnnie Jackson spooning the loose ball over the crossbar. Henderson got down smartly at his near post to save after Wilson had met Ritchie’s clever free-kick in the 17th minute with Andrew Surman blazing over the top after the ball had reached him on the edge of the box.
Youthful striker Karlan Ahearne-Grant continued to pose the hosts some problems. Given that he has come in for some criticism on the boards, I was interested to see that the Footbsll League Paper gave him a score of 7, saying that he was 'skilful with the ball at his feet but was out muscled on occasions.'
Charlton's best chance came when Gudmundsson's free-kick was heading towards the top corner until Boruc somehow kept it out. Peeters made a double substitution and a formation change at the break. As Charlton enjoyed a spell of pressure at the start of the second half, Buyens’s volley was charged down by Cook 10 minutes after the restart. However, Bournemouth piled on the pressure again, winning 16 corners.
Winger Pugh continued to torment full-back Solly, and while Ritchie was happy to shoot on sight, his delivery from corners remained a threat as Steve Cook twice headed wide. The visitors lacked invention and while Addicks substitute Lawrie Wilson headed straight at Boruc when well placed in stoppage time, it was too little, too late.
In the clash of former Charlton managers, Huddersfield beat Blackpool 4-2.
Derek from Dymchurch writes: 'I said the wheels were coming off and now they have. That Belgian geezer has been found out, good and proper. Coach? He couldn't coach an under 12 side. It was a toothless display.'
