One goal is not enough

Faced with the challenge of scoring a second goal, Charlton went down 1-2 to Preston at The Valley this afternoon.   Charlton stay 18th, but are just five points above Oxford in the first relegation position.

After he had hit the woodwork from a Tyreece Campbell cross, the returning Joe Rankin-Costello put the Addicks ahead on 18 minutes.   He finished on the volley after Carey's long throw was flicked in off a Preston defender's head.

Charlton's lead did not last long.  Villa loanee Lewis Dobbin put a looping header over Mannion on 25 minutes.

On the half hour mark, Mannion had to save from Devine, attempting to score from a tight angle.

As Preston threatened again as half time approached, Brad Pitts sliced wide from a good position.

Charlton were retreating a lot in the first phase of the second half and Fullah and Goddard were brought on to liven things up with Rankin-Costello and Chambers going off.

Charlton pushed on in an attempt to score, but opened up a glaring gap, enabling Potts to score for the visitors on 65 minutes.

The game went a bit flat.  Campbell was taken off and replaced by Miles Leaburn.

Carey went off for Berry as the end of normal time approached.

With seven minutes added on Charlton applied some pressure but a great block from Gibson denied Dykes a scoring opportunity,

Concerned supremo Nathan Jones told the BBC: .We started really well, got the goal and had a number of chances to get further ahead. But we switched off and lost shape at a set play and they scored from it. They started the second half better and we're lethargic and they score after we give the ball away.

'Then we throw everything at them and have a number of chances and can't score which is pretty much what has been happening.  The home form is concerning. My worry is that for all our play we don't have the conversion rate we need to win games. we had a number of chances today but cannot score.'

The 'Preston Plumber'

Preston North End are the very definition of a mid-table Championship club and that's where they are ahead of tomorrow's fixture, just above us in the table: https://footballeconomyv2.blogspot.com/2024/12/preston-need-to-do-better-but-few-signs.html

When I first started supporting Charlton in the 1950s, a visit by Preston was the cause of some excitement as one of their players was Tom Finney, the so-called 'Preston Plumber' because of the plumbing business he ran on the side and eventually retired to.

I'm not sure that I ever saw Finney as in my first year of support we played on a Thursday and the following year he was in an England v. Scotland game.  Finney was a versatile attacking player who could operate as centre forward or on either wing.

Preston were once known as the 'Invincibles' as they dominated the Football League when it was first founded, becoming the first team to win the 'double'.  I visited the football museum when it was originally located there before it moved to Manchester.

At the beginning of the season I forecast this game as a 2-2  and I will stick to that prediction.  They are the away draw specialists of the Championship, having drawn nine games on the road.

Preston had a strong start to the season but one win in 12 league matches between mid-January and mid-March derailed their play-off prospects.  They are now third from bottom in the form table.

They head to the Valley unbeaten in three, taking five points from a possible nine. It will be their first visit to SE7 since November 2019, Paul Gallagher scoring in a 1-0 win.

“They have been a Championship side for as long as my memory goes back,” Nathan Jones told Richard Cawley. “They are a really good Championship side. They recruit well and are very structured in what they do. They have been able to build on a solid foundation for years and years - I remember Alex Neil’s Preston with the players they had like Gallagher, Ben Pearson and Daniel Johnson.

“They either nearly, or did, get to the play-offs. They have been that type of side that has been a really good Championship side for years and they continue to do that.

Getting his excuses in early, Jones said: “They are a very tough test, are very experienced and have threats in certain areas. It is another difficult Championship test.”

Manager Paul Heckingbottom has condemned racial abuse directed at former Addick Thierry Small: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c4g89jkwp1vo

The Preston supremo is also expecting a 'tough contest in SE7: https://www.pnefc.net/news/2026/april/09/-long-may-it-continue----hecky-previews-gentry-day-at-charlton/

Charlton fans should be aware that 'Gentry Day' is when Preston fans commemorate fellow fans who have passed away.

According to CAS Trust, Preston rely on crosses to create many of their chances: https://www.castrust.org/2026/04/the-gentlemen-of-preston/

A ray of realism from Ramsgate

Fanzine editor and Ramsgate-based fan Rick Everitt seems to have overcome his fear that Charlton would repeat their unanticipated collapse in 1972: https://www.votvonline.com/home/the-2025-26-blogs/8-4-ghosts-of-1972-can-t-frighten-jones-s-battling-side/

The Rickster admits that it's been a hard watch at time, but says that no one has really let us down, even scapegoat player Tyreece Campbell.   He points out that the Championship is a very different place from when we left it, i.e., much tougher.

The veteran fan has maintained a dignified silence in the face of attacks from Super Hoops top fan Lord Young of Acton, albeit that the noble lord was briefly distracted by having to explain away his presence in the Epstein files.

Realism doesn't go down well with some Charlton fans so it is interesting to see this favourable comparison between the Addicks and Birmingham City by a neutral commentator: https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/incredible-charlton-athletic-claim-emerges-as-birmingham-city-comparison-made/

Kanu nominated for award

On loan Charlton striker Daniel Kanu has been nominated by Walsall for the League Two Young Player of the Season award.

He has scored 18 goals for the Saddlers this season.

This doesn't mean we should bring him back to The Valley.  League Two defences are more porous, although he could well interest in League One.

It's Super K day in the EFL

Four Four Two have published their list of the top EFL players.   No Charlton players are listed (unlike Bromley) but Lloyd Jones makes the 'honourable mention' category.

There is, however, a special feature on the Lisbie twins: Kyreece and Kyrell, the sons of Super Kev.

Kyreece was due to move from Colchester to Reading in January. but the move was stopped by prospective purchasers of the U's who in the event didn't seal the deal,   His trajectory was Cray Valley Paper Mills, then Brentford 'B'.   By the end of January he had fifteen goal involvements with the U's.

Kyrell has started to make waves with League One Peterborough.   'His speed, the way he carries the ball into space and the ability to play off either flank make him a real threat, leaving defenders unsure if he'll move outside and cross, or cut inside to shoot.  Adding an end product has attracted other clubs.'  Sign him up?

Feel the difference

I am always amazed by how confident the keyboard managers feel about telling the manager what he should do in terms of selections, tactics and substitutions.

I have been watching Charlton since 1953, albeit with a gap in the middle when I was bringing up a family of three in the Midlands and we had left The Valley.    Yet I feel that I know little about football (other than the economics and finance and even there I am outpaced by chartered accountants).

I think that the periods when I watched football in the 1950s and the last few years are particularly irrelevant.   Let's start with the 1950s:

• The pitches were atrocious and the game was played with a heavy leather ball  A key skill was to skim the ball across a puddle.
• Training was a joke   Players were denied the ball as it was thought it would make them hungry for it at the weekend.  Training focused on running up and down the East Stand steps or round the pitch supervised by trainer Trotter wearing a white coat he had probably borrowed from the pharmacy counter at Boots.   There were even 'training walks'.
• Players weren't that fit anyway.  No one had any idea about nutrition and players would often have a fag at half time.
• The formation was set up as 2-3-5.  The full backs were defenders and often cloggers   There were two wingers up front, but the role of the wing halves was nothing like a modern midfielder.
• Keepers were supposed to stay rooted to their line and Bartram got criticised as a showman because he anticipated the modern sweeper keeper.   Keepers had far less protection and players were allowed to shoulder charge them.
• Referees weren't very fit and Jimmy Seed thought that a lot of them always favoured the home side. Nevertheless, my mother was convinced that there was a referees' conspiracy against Charlton and was always ready with a shout of 'dirty red', followed by an invitation to the referee to make a quick return to his home town (usually 'oop north).

Where was Kaminski yesterday?

Thomas Kaminski was not in the squad yesterday.   Richard Cawley asked Nathan Jones about his absence and got the reply, 'He fell over and couldn't travel.'

Somewhat surprised, the relentless journo repeated the question and got the same answer.

My first thought was that it reminded me of when Feesh had been sampling his collection of red wines and fell into his glass coffee table, sustaining quite serious injuries.   I should add that Feesh has made it clear that those days are over.

I am sure that Kaminski keeps away from alcohol, but there has been speculative comment that he had a hissy fit about being dropped.  I am sure that he is too professional for that, but the explanation offered by the manager is odd.

One fan suggested that if he had thrown his toys out of the pram he should be let go.  Mannion was doing a good job and we could get a second keeper more cheaply.

I know that I am getting a bit obsessive about QPR, but you can't open a newspaper or magazine without some minor celeb droning on about them.  This morning it's Giles Coren in his Times column celebrating their weekend win over Watford

Apparently Louis Theroux is also a fan but he and Lord Young of Acton are daggers drawn over politics but agree a truce when they are at Loftus Road.