Charlton are Kings

A suburb of Cheltenhm is called Charlton Kings and so it proved yesterday in the Carabao Cup with the Addicks convincing 3-1 winners.  Negativists searching for a narrative pointed out that it was Cheltenham  not Chelsea.

Nathan Jones' side opened up a three-goal lead before half-time, with Matty Godden, Sonny Carey and Tyreece Campbell on target.

Godden fired wide with the first chance in the fourth minute but two goals in two minutes put Charlton firmly in control.  Godden charged down a clearance from Robbie Cundy, allowing Carey to set him up for a finish which bounced in off the post in the 22nd minute.

Carey then fired in the second almost immediately to make it 2-0.  And Campbell was teed up by Conor Coventry before curling a fine shot inside the top-right corner from outside the penalty area, giving goalkeeper Joe Day no chance in the 37th minute.

Day denied Karlan Grant with a fine stop just before half-time and Cheltenham pulled one back 10 minutes into the second half.

Joe Tomlinson's in-swinging corner was nodded in from close range by George Miller.

Will Mannion denied Tomlinson after Shaun McWilliams' cross in the 59th minute as Cheltenham nearly pulled another one back.

But Charlton had done enough and only two late saves from substitute goalkeeper Wyll Stanway denied them a fourth.

Kayne Ramsay is out for for a few weeks with an ankle injury.

Steve Cotterill, the Cheltenham Town manager, was full of admiration for the quality of Charlton’s attackers - and claimed to know about transfer interest in them. “Their finishes have been incredible,” he said. “We’re talking about a good few million pounds that those goals are worth.

“You’ll probably see, in a short space of time, a couple of those players…..there’s already been bids in for them, I know that. They are going to be going for big money soon.

'We are staying up'

That was the chant of the Addickted after a 1-1 draw at Southampton this afternoon.   Charlton are currently 17th in the Championship.

Sonny Carey equalised for Charlton in the second half after the home side went ahead.   They then tried to throw the kitchen sink at Charlton, but the Addicks resisted the pressure.  Carey drilled a shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net from the edge of the box.

10 minutes was added on to the second half, but although Southampton huffed and puffed, they were unable to take advantage of the referee's timekeeping.

“Carey had told Richard Cawley: 'I think we can use it as motivation,” Carey said when asked about coming up against opposition that inflicted heavy damage last time around. “After what happened in the home game, the gaffer said we need to bury it, forget about it, but at the back of your mind use it as fuel to go and put in a performance.

“We know that day was a very bad day and that we need to put that right at the weekend.”

Southampton went close in the opening moments when Tom Fellows floated a cross to the back post, where Scienza was in space to send a right-footed effort at goal that was cleared off the line by a diving Lloyd Jones.

Ryan Manning also went close for the hosts when he struck the crossbar with a curling effort just before the half-hour mark.

Saints came close again moments later, when a corner was flicked on by defender Amari'i Bell to James Bree at the back post and he failed to keep his header down.

They took the lead early in the second half, when Scienza crossed the ball into the box from the left and his in-swinging pass found the head of Stewart, who glanced the ball into the net.

The Addicks found an equaliser with just over 20 minutes remaining.

Greg Docherty aimed a pass across the top of the box to Carey, who took a touch before shooting low past keeper Daniel Peretz.

Flynn Downes and Conor Coady came face-to-face in the final 10 minutes, with a melee breaking out among players in the moments afterwards.

The Charlton fans wanted Southampton's Downes sent off for what they thought was a headbutt, but referee John Busby only produced a yellow card before both Downes and Coady were substituted immediately after.

Southampton pushed for a winner, pumping balls into the box to try to find a goal, but the Charlton defence held strong.   Richard Cawley reported: 'The Addicks absolutely stood up to heavy late pressure from the home team.Lloyd Jones absolutely superb - 23 defensive contributions. Got his head on so much when it really mattered. Big point and nicely sets up the trip to WBA.'

Fans praised the contribution of debutante Collins Sichenge who put his body in front of everything. Fans chanted: 'We've got a big ****ing Kenyan.'

Nathan Jones told Richard Cawley: “We let ourselves down sometimes but it is our first year at this level - look at what we’re coming up against. Structurally we were good and tactically we had to be good. I would have liked us to be a little braver and shown a bit more quality in the moments we had, right at the end we might’ve even nicked it if Miles (Leaburn) could just play (Charlie) Kelman clean in. But would we have taken a point before the game? Absolutely."

Moaners confounded as Leicester are outfoxed

Andy King made a losing start as Leicester City interim boss after Charlton capitalised on Caleb Okoli's red card to ease their Championship relegation fears.    It was a difficult afternoon for the club’s many moaners,

Okoli was dismissed after just 15 minutes for pulling back Miles Leaburn, and Charlton took full advantage through Sonny Carey and Lyndon Dykes goals to climb further away from the drop zone.

The 2-0 defeat added to the sense of misery at Leicester after Marti Cifuentes was sacked on Sunday following their shock home loss to Oxford.

Jordan Ayew hit the post from a second-half penalty to compound the Foxes' woes when they threatened a comeback.

Conor Coady, written off as useless by  armchair managers, impressed on his Charlton debut as a holding midfielder against his former side following his loan move from Wrexham, and Nathan Jones will be delighted with his side's response after he accused them of treating last weekend's defaat by Millwall "as a day in the sun".

The game's decisive moment came when Okoli was rightly shown a straight red card for pulling back Leaburn when the Foxes defender was the last man.

And after Harry Clarke had a header controversially disallowed for a foul by Leaburn, Charlton's top scorer Carey gave them the lead in the 36th minute with his seventh goal of the season.

Clarke swung in a cross from the right and Carey lifted the ball over Ricardo Pereira with his first touch before volleying home left-footed with his second.

Leicester were a mess, and in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time, 'last ditch' Dykes steered home Luke Chambers' cross right-footed to register his first Addicks goal since joining from Birmingham just over two weeks ago.

Leicester rallied in the second half, but spurned a glorious chance to haul themselves back into the game on 56 minutes when Ayew hit the post from a penalty after Abdul Fatawu was pulled back by Amari'i Bell.

Thomas Kaminski saved a 20-yard drive from Pereira, and many unhappy Leicester fans left the King Power Stadium before full-time.

Avatar Desmond from Deal said: ‘I was looking forward to Charlton getting thumped and Jones getting the sack.   In my view he still hasn’t a clue, but he always manages to get lucky results when he needs them.;

Relieved supremo Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London: '“That's a massive win, the result was everything today.  Last week [losing 4-0 to Millwall] was damning, it was really hurtful to the football club. One, because of who we played, two, because of the manner of it, and three, because we care.

"I'm immersed in this football club, so it hurts me because I live and breathe this club, so I wanted to have a reaction today.

"Miles [Leaburn] was clean in and got pulled back, a definite red. That kind of changed the complexion of the game, but I'm really pleased because we wanted to be aggressive against them and put it on them."

“That's a massive win, the result was everything today.  Last week [losing 4-0 to Millwall] was damning, it was really hurtful to the football club. One, because of who we played, two, because of the manner of it, and three, because we care.

"I'm immersed in this football club, so it hurts me because I live and breathe this club, so I wanted to have a reaction today.

"Miles [Leaburn] was clean in and got pulled back, a definite red. That kind of changed the complexion of the game, but I'm really pleased because we wanted to be aggressive against them and put it on them."

Three key points

Charlton have gone ahead of the Baggies in the table after their 1-0 win over nine man Sheffield United at The Valley this afternoon.   They are on the same number of points as today's opponents and Swansea City and are just one point behind Southampton.   Pundits had confidently forecast a Blades win.

Sonny Carey scored the only goal as Charlton Athletic beat Sheffield United after the Blades had two players sent off in the first half at the Valley.

El Hadji Djibril Soumare was shown a straight red card for a late challenge that resulted in Harvey Knibbs leaving the pitch on a stretcher.

Captain Japhet Tanganga was then shown a straight red in first-half injury-time as he went into an aerial challenge with Carey leading with his elbow.

The Addicks needed less than a minute after the break to take advantage of the extra players, with Carey smashing in his seventh goal of the season.

Despite never really taking a full grip of the game and facing a late rally from the visitors, Nathan Jones' side earned a valuable three points.   The fact Charlton ended the first half against a team with nine players with zero shots shows just how one-sided the opening period of this match was.

Until the 35th minute, Sheffield United were in total control. Addicks keeper Thomas Kaminski was called into early action to save efforts from Patrick Bamford and Tom Cannon before Tyler Bindon headed wide.

But the game changed when Soumare caught Knibbs on the ankle with a late challenge that resulted in referee Oliver Langford brandishing what would we be his first red card of the day.

The Addicks will have to wait to find out the full damage extent of the injury suffered by their 26-year-old midfielder but the sight of him leaving the pitch on a stretcher will gave dismayed home fans.

Twelve minutes later, in first-half stoppage time, United were down to nine as it was Tanganga's turn to leave the field.

It was the first time since March 2011 against Watford they have had two players sent off in the first half of a match.

New signing Lyndon Dykes was sent on for the hosts at the break and was soon celebrating an assist with his first touch the club, nodding down Macaulay Gillesphey's ball in for Carey to thump it into the net in front of the Covered End.

Miles Leaburn and Tyreece Campbell both had multiple chances as the Addicks looked to secure the points but the longer it remained 1-0, the more uncomfortable it became for the home side.

However, Jones' side were able to see out the final minutes and have now gone three games without defeat, moving level with the Blades on 32 points.

Jones frankly admitted: 'We could’ve been better today. There was an anxiousness every time we had the ball - we had to go central, we had to score, we had to go long and we had to put it in the box. That is not how you win games. I’m proud we won the game. Could we all have made better choices? Absolutely.'

Let's take tje three points and move on to another key challenge against Derby.   There were some positives.  'Last Ditch' Dykes showed that he can contribute and Godden had a cameo.

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."

 

Charlton stun Ipswich

Charlton Athletic stunned Ipswich Town with three goals in 12 second-half minutes at Portman Road to pick up their second away win of the season.   The Addicks are now in the play off places at 5^th.

The home side, previously unbeaten on their own patch this term, dominated the first half - but Ivan Azon had an effort smothered by Addicks goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski and Ipswich forward Chuba Akpom hit the crossbar.

Charlton, who have now won four of their past six games, made them pay, as Sonny Carey scored his fourth goal in seven games and then Macaulay Gillesphey headed in a second.

Ipswich, who have now lost two on the bounce and saw goalkeeper Alex Palmer limp off injured in the first half, were clearly rattled, and Miles Leaburn added a third shortly after going on as a substitute.

The south London side had conceded a total of 14 goals in their previous three games against the Tractor Boys, and with the home side dominant early on, this meeting looked like going a similar way.

Azon was denied by Kaminski, the dangerous Jack Clarke had an inswinging corner headed off the line by Charlton's Greg Docherty, and then Akpom smashed a shot against the bar after great approach work by Azon.

The loss of Palmer, who seemed to suffer a muscle problem as he raced out of his area to sweep up, did not interrupt the flow of the game, but Charlton then created the two best chances of the first half as a warning of things to come.

Isaac Olaofe, in his first league start, turned away from Ashley Young and ran clear of the defence only for substitute goalkeeper Christian Walton to save with his feet, and then Gillesphey miscued a glaring chance over the bar from James Bree's wicked curving corner.

The dancing feet of Clarke continued to look like Ipswich's best means of opening up the visitors, but Kaminski turned the former Sunderland man's shot over the bar and then Akpom headed his fine cross narrowly wide.

Charlton came alive again after 52 minutes as Carey picked up Leif Davis' headed clearance and drove straight back at the defence, peeling left to beat Dara O'Shea and then driving a low shot beyond Walton.

Suddenly it was all Charlton as Walton produced a fine save to deny Charlie Kelman, and following the resulting corner, Carey's cross was flicked by Olaofe's heel at the near post and ballooned off the diving Walton to fall neatly onto the head of Gillespie for 2-0.

Kasey McAteer thought he had pulled one back with a far-post header, but an offside flag ruled the goal out.

Charlton rubbed home their superiority when Conor Coventry retrieved an over-hit corner and played a sharp pass towards the byline. Tyreece Campbell collected and delivered the ball onto the head of Leaburn, who made it three.

George Hirst's poor touch denied Ipswich their final chance of retrieving something from the game, and Charlton could have added a fourth when Leaburn and Campbell both went close.

Nathan Jones told BBC Radio London:

"It was a magnificent result - some squad, some team."

"In the first 25 minutes we had to get to grips with it because we were really passive and allowed them to work patterns and get their good players into areas, and we had to defend the box really, really well.

"Then we became more aggressive, got on the front foot a little bit more, and we had four really good chances in the first half.

"At half-time I got into the players and said 'Look, if we want to be passive, these are a good side who will play round you and through you'. In the second half we were really aggressive and went after the game.

"The goals were excellent goals and the game-changers that went on were excellent. It was some performance."

 

Charlton back to winning ways

Charlton went 9th in the Championship after their 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at The Valley this afternoon in front of a crowd of 23.009.

Goals from Sonny Carey and defender Reece Burke had the Addicks in control by half-time and even though Wednesday rallied as Jamal Lowe's opportunist goal got them back in the game, they had goalkeeper Ethan Horvath sent-off in added time as they fell to another defeat.

Charlton came out quickly and Max Lowe made a vital block on an early Burke strike.

Wednesday's best chance of the opening 45 minutes came in the 11th minute but Jamal Lowe could only head the ball straight at Addicks goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski from very close range.

Charlton opened the scoring in the 17th minute with Carey collecting his third goal of the campaign. The summer signing (free transfer) from Blackpool was initially denied by Horvath but followed up to lift a cool finish into the top right of the net.

The visitors' defence regularly looked uncomfortable as the Addicks pressed aggressively and it needed a last-second block by Gabriel Otegbayo to frustrate Charlie Kelman inside the penalty area. Carey was proving to be an uncontainable influence and his wicked cross was begging for a finishing touch that never came in the 32nd minute.

Charlton extended their lead in first-half stoppage time. James Bree's free-kick was headed in at the near post by centre-back Burke, his first goal since joining from Luton in July.

Barry Bannan was out of sorts for the visitors, summed up by the Scottish charm merchant over hitting a couple of routine crossfield passes out of play to the delight of the Addickted.

Jamal Lowe made amends for smashing wildly over from the left-hand side of the box when he reacted quickest to convert after substitute Sean Fusire's shot came back off the right post in the 69th minute.

Keeper Horvath was shown a straight red card by referee Tom Reeves for wiping out Isaac Olaofe as the pair competed for a ball just outside the Owls' penalty area late on.

Nathan Jones, who has lost just three matches as Charlton manager, told BBC Radio London: '"I'm delighted that we won because you come out of these international breaks and never know what you're going to get. People have had two weeks off, you've had internationals who have travelled around the world, you never know.

"First half we were good. We scored two goals and with a little bit more killer instinct we'd have scored more. Charlie [Kelman] has had two situations where he could score, [James] Bree has put in some wonderful balls that, again, we could score from - two was the least we should have had.

"We warned [our players] at half-time because we've watched them [Wednesday] a number of times and they've been 2-0 down twice and come back to 2-2, and they should have won the Wrexham 3-2 or 4-2 so we knew there was a sting in the tail if we didn't do what we did.

"We almost had that but we saw the game out really well and came strong late on."

Mark Kinsella received a great reception from the home crowd, declaring that The Valley was his home.

Capital performance

Charlton moved to the edge of the play offs in 7^th place with a 3-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at The Valley this afternoon.

It took a while for the game to warm up, with Balazs Toth the first goalkeeper to be called into action with 28 minutes on the clock, dropping to hold onto home skipper Greg Docherty, who let fly from the edge of the box.

The cultured right foot of Bree, which gave Blackburn problems all afternoon, finally made an opening.  He swung in a deep free kick that was met at the back post by substitute Gillesphey.   The Wembley hero nodded back across goal and into the corner to give his side the lead just seven minutes after replacing the injured Josh Edwards

The penultimate chance of the half saw Pickering go for goal from a free kick, with the defender’s strike from 22 yards sailing comfortably over the top of the upright and into the home supporters behind Kaminski’s goal, before Toth produced a good stop to beat away Lloyd Jones’ header with the final touch of a scrappy first half in SE7.

The Addicks went in ahead and they almost doubled their tally just four minutes into the second period, but Docherty’s left-footed attempt from inside the box was parried away by Toth. before the danger was hacked clear.

Filling in at right-back after Ryan Alebiosu was forced off at half time, Gardner-Hickman was beginning to be targeted and after winning a battle against the hapless substitute, Tyreece Campbell bent inches past Toth’s left-hand post just before the hour mark with a curling right-footed effort after darting in from the left flank.

Reece Burke missed a glorious opportunity to bag a second for Charlton with just over 20 minutes left, with the defender firing over with the net gaping after Toth had initially saved Docherty’s stinging effort from 18 yards out.

Charlton grew stronger as the second half progressed and when substitute Isaac Olaofe held the ball up and laid it off, Carey was given far too much time and space to weigh up an attempt and he then sent his thunderous shot flying between the desperate dive of Toth and his near post to smash into the back of the net to make it 2-0.

Bree was waiting at the back post to score his first league goal for the club since joining on loan from Southampton in the summer to make it 3-0. Olaofe, who scored the late winner in South Yorkshire last week, created the third in the fourth minute of added time, setting off on a run down the left and freeing Greg Docherty, whose pull-back to the edge of the box found Bree, who calmly stroked a side foot shot through a crowd of players.

 

 

It was ever thus

Sonny Carey gave the Addicks the lead against Millwall with his first goal for the club as he smashed into the corner in the first half.  But Kayne Ramsay was sent off for a second yellow card with less than 20 minutes remaining and the visitors made Charlton pay as they so often have done.

Ra'ees Bangura-Williams came off the bench to Millwall's rescue, having a goal disallowed for handball before netting the equaliser with two minutes left of normal time.

What the first meeting between these two sides since July 2020 lacked in goalmouth action in the early stages, it made up for in passion and intensity with the pace unrelenting.   Both sides looked dangerous in wide areas without producing any real efforts of note until Charlton winger Rob Apter tried to bend one from distance, with the ball looping up off a defender and almost dropping over Steven Benda, just clipping the bar.

The hosts' goal came from the corner that followed. Benda made a strong connection to punch away Conor Coventry's in swinger but the ball went straight to Carey, whose first touch created space to fire the ball through a sea of players into the bottom corner.

The turning point came after 74 minutes when Ramsay lunged in late on Aidomo Emakhu, having already been booked, giving referee Bobby Madley no option but to pull out the red card.

Millwall made the extra player count and thought they'd equalised when Bangura-Williams, impressive after coming off the bench, took the ball down in the box and smashed it into the top corner with Thomas Kaminski well beaten.

But referee Madley was well placed to see the ball strike his hand first touch before the accomplished finish.

The 21-year-old was not to be denied again though as he finished off a Millwall move. Joe Bryan's expert pass found Luke Cundle in the middle and the midfielder's shot was parried back into the box by Kaminski, with Bangura-Williams quickest to react as he buried it into the bottom-right corner.

Neither side was able to find a winner in five added minutes.

Sanguine supremo Nathan Jones said: "I'm proud of the performance because it took a red card for us to draw the game. We were comfortable and I didn't see us conceding today.   Once we got the goal I just wanted to get the next one, which we couldn't do. It was going to take something – like a set-play or a moment of madness to concede and we got a moment of madness.

"When you are on a booking and you lunge in then you know you are risking something. You have to be cleverer than that. Top defenders stay on their feet and make people work for something – when they go to ground, it is a last resort or they know they can win it.   It is a learning curve for him. He's a young boy and he has so much ability, he has been outstanding for us. That was categorically the turning point.

"We should have had six points from our last two home games but we took one. We're comfortable at the level."