Charlton Athletic 1 Huddersfield Town 1
A lot of disappointed faces after a game we should have seen out to 3 points, but I had a draw in my water before the game, so I have to take it with another home game on Tuesday.
The game was a slow burner, but it had some good prospects until referee Collins saw it fit to send off Town’s Keith Southern in the 34th minute. The incident happened right in front of us and it was a good clean 50/50, with Morrison I actually thought slightly second to the ball but winning it cleanly.
When the ref went for his pocket I actually felt he would send off Morro. He didn’t, Southern went instead and it was a poor decision.
The 1st half petered out and in the 2nd half it was all about being patient. I thought both Fuller and Hulse had a goal in them, and with Frimpong pulling the strings, we had enough time to get a goal and we did on the hour.
Hulse finishing a very simple move which Fuller was the architect of, and with Pritchard delivering a fine cross for Hulse to tap in.
Naively I thought, those around me in the East Stand then seemed to think that the floodgates would open. I was content to see us just pass it around and play possession football, but once Frimpong went off with “Championship cramp” as Powell described it, any innovation went with it.
Dale Stephens was doing his best impersonation of a crab and the wings must have suddenly had poisonous snakes prowling them, as the Charlton players avoided them at any cost even with Danny Green braving it amongst the vipers waiting to be passed to after replacing the very impressive Frimpong.
To be fair the front two weren’t the most mobile and Haynes was missed, particularly in the last half hour because at that point we should have been stretching the Yorkshireman into open offensive spaces, but instead we offered them a midfield battle, allowing them to throw some balls into the box as the game got a little niggly.
Nonetheless I was thinking that we were going to make the final whistle and claim another clean sheet, but as my mate prophesied Huddersfield were sure to have one good chance.
Sure enough with 3 minutes left, a cross was thrown into the box, Hamer came but unconvincingly and as the ball fell to Clarke, Solly stretched to block him but his foot was high and it was definitely a penalty.
In injury time, which confusingly was less than our normal, we may have won it when Hulse headed straight at Smithies from a peachy Green cross.
So groans at the final whistle as three points became one. Even so Huddersfield were a useful team and I couldn’t help thinking that we had witnessed a mid-table clash with honours even.
It was great to see a plus 20,000 Valley crowd aided by a good Town turnout, a lot of whom were in the Rose of Denmark before the game and most with moustaches I noted, which I don’t all reckon were celebrating Movember!
Fellow Addick Bloggers at The Valley: And Nothing Else Matters; Charlton Casualty; Deepest Darkest; Commeth The Addick; Drinking During the Game; Stickleback; Blackheath Addick.
Powell-ometer: He had to tinker again with his line up after injuries robbed him of Seaborne and Haynes. However I do wish he would encourage more wing play and the team once again lacked pace.
Elsewhere: Palace lost for the first time in 14 games at Leeds and Cardiff go top after winning at Barnsley. Bristol City had the result of the day winning at Boro, Leicester won 2-0 at Hillsborough but Hull lost at home to Burnley. Millwall move into 6th with a good win at Blackburn and Forest won at Wolves. Derby beat Birmingham in the TV game, Blackpool came from 0-2 to draw at home to Watford, Bolton grabbed a late equaliser at Brighton and Ipswich and Peterborough shared the points at Portman Road.
