Charlton Athletic 2 Leeds United 4
After 5 clean sheets, Leeds stunned us today with an undeserved 4-2 victory at The Valley with Ross McCormack scoring all 4 of their goals.
The game was delayed by half an hour due to a late pitch inspection following driving rain. Only one other game in the country was postponed and that included matches at many tiny non-league grounds in the FA Cup, so at least we avoided that embarrassment!
It was a disappointing result after last week’s win at Birmingham and our Valley form continues to worry. In saying that it sounded from the radio and those at the game that it was a good performance, and the result flattered the Yorkshiremen. Twice the Addicks came from behind and after Jackson equalised for 2-2 with 20 minutes left I felt sure there would be only one winner, but McCormack’s third, sloppy from us defensively, killed us off just 3 minutes after the restart.
The refereeing sounded at best appalling, but I’ll leave that for those that were there. A win today would have been huge and puts the pressure back on us to pick up points on the road.
The statistics told a story of dominance however and for the 2nd week running a blatant penalty was overlooked by the referee, whilst Addicks’ fans complained vociferously at theirs.
Paddy Kenny made some critical saves but pointedly was booked after half an hour for time-wasting, which tells it’s own story. It’s just one game of course, but we have to address our home form urgently. It seems like light years ago that The Valley was impenetrable.
The performance was good, and included another goal of the season shout from Cameron Stewart, but at the minute I’d rather we be crap and win and send every one home happy if I was honest.
Addick Bloggers at The Valley: Blackheath Addick; Valley Talk
Powell-ometer: Pritchard was dropped in favour of Harriott, which was positive and frustratingly we probably had one of our best Valley games offensively, but recent out of character sloppy defending was our downfall.
Elsewhere: None of the top 6 won. Burnley were held by Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth, Leicester lost at home for the first time by the inconsistent Nottm Forest and QPR drew at Reading. Blackpool lost at home to Ipswich, Watford drew at Middlesbrough, Ayala equalising very late and Derby saw off Sheffield Wednesday by 3-0. Millwall were beaten at Bolton 3-1, Brighton put 3 past Blackburn and Birmingham bounced back well winning 3-1 at Huddersfield.
I must say from a Leeds United point of view, who went to the match unlike this Charlton fan, to say he was a bit biased would be an understatement, I thought it was a good game considering the conditions, from my point of view United deserved the win, and 4 goal Ross was outstanding. Good luck to Charlton for the rest of the season. Nigel
Thanks Nigel. We could certainly do with a McCormack in our side. My bias only comes from the radio and what the possession and shots on goal stats say, but congrats on the win and good luck for the rest of the season.
Pretty strong opinions for someone who wasn’t at the game? Undeserved victory? At what point were you in the lead? You hadn’t conceded for 500 minutes prior to that, and we put 4 past you. Paddy Kenny gets no credit for a few fantastic AND we had to come play at your dump of a stadium which was flooded. Im surprised you didn’t call it off like you did when Doncaster were all over you.
Oh sorry you did acknowledge Kennys saves. Sorry, I couldn’t finish reading your garbage article.
But I am sure you are glad you did. Kenny always plays well against us, disappointed in his time wasting techniques though, thought you were better than that.
I suspect that the article was based on the broadcast from the Charlton website – hardly unbiased reporting! Recognising that a team which hadn’t conceded a goal in almost 8 hours play must have a problem if they ship 4 in just 1 game is better than blaming the ref. At least Chris Powell (who didn’t rely on the broadcast) didn’t blame the ref, but admitted that Ross McCormack was the difference – much classier than sour grapes!
Powell got his tactics wrong, playing tippy tappy on that atrocious pitch. Looks good when it works, but today Charlton were just too soft.
And you should have been down to ten men following a two footer on Brown that Brown himself would have been proud of.
Today was a wonderful blast from when football was played by men, not ballerinas.
i cant take it seriously.a match report from someone who didnt attend the game.i watched MOTD this evening im tempted to write a report on the everton nil niller!what a joke this blog is
Mate, I am here all week.
Chicago
I was at the game and the idiot Lees fans who have commented here are as deluded as their European champions singing – what’s that all about.
They have 1 good player , we dominated for 95% of the game and somehow they won 4-2.
It happens occasionally, but 99 times out of 100 we would have won a game like that against poor opposition..
I’m confident we will finish above them
There’s a nice link between the first sentence and the last – the word ‘deluded’! It’s dreams like that which keep us following our team, but stop us winning the pools!!
The funny thing is that we’re not deluded at all. What we are is happy, as would any fan be if they had won an away game 4-2. Have Charlton never won a game like that? Did the fans not enjoy it regardless?
We have been unlucky this season, but that’s the way it goes. Today we got the rub of the green,undoubtedly. I’ll look out for your self critical comments the next time you get a bit of luck.
And as for the ‘one good player’ bit, that should make you look at your lightweight performance all the more. We started the game without Byram and Mowatt, England youth players, and our regular left back injured. Wootton was injured during the game as well, and we don’t have the squad to be able to replace them.
The lingering taste of sour grapes will fade away, and then perhaps you’ll look at your own team which was pretty, occasionally effective, but without heart and certainly without a player anywhere near as clinical or skilled as our ‘one good player’
You will not end the season above us, not because we’re brilliant but because you’re not good enough. That should be your primary thought today, rather than blaming everyone else. Three wins in 14 games and only 12 goals should tell you that the problems are close to home.
All fair points Simon, and we have our own injury problems allied with a very small squad and no dosh.
I don’t think I was blaming everyone else, Charlton fans aren’t very well known for their astringency. When you were winning the league and champions of Europe and all that we were fighting to get back to our ground.
Good luck for the rest of the season. I’ll happily finish below you as along as Leeds don’t finish 4th from bottom.
And that what makes us all more alike that we think.
At what point were Charlton in front? Ive had a read of few right ups and found it quite entertaining how bitter and childish the Charlton fans are. Almost as funny as the fact that we have shattered your defensive solidarity, this will compact your inability to score goals, combined with the fact you have to play football at a sewage plant and you have crap fans with no grace. Say hello to Sheffield United for us next year in league 1!
Finish above us?? You will be lucky to finish above sea level mate, let alone above us. Your team is sinking mate. Sinking down the table as well as sinking in mud and crap fans.
our BEST PLAYER was injured for the game so it could have been worse for charlton if he had played MOT