Blackpool 0 Charlton Athletic 1
This evening the newly put together Addicks squad proved they can do it on a chilly Tuesday night by the seaside as we left the Lancastrian coast with all three points.
The performance was once again a long, long way from perfect but there were encouraging signs. Ryan Inniss and Akin Famewo were dominant at the back against a good forward three for Blackpool. I thought Andrew Shinnie and Chris Gunter were more on point, and Alfie was once again a live wire, night cap and all.
However it was Ian Maatsen and Chuks Aneke who caught the eye. Maatsen came on at the break and hustled up and and down the left side, and we had much more attacking intent when Aneke replaced Omar Bogle just after the hour.
On 83 minutes it was the young Dutchman who put in a deep pinpoint cross for Alfie to head back for Aneke to head in that gave us the all important winning goal.
Before that we had a goal disallowed long after we had all celebrated. Bogle probably was offside when he waggled his foot at an Inniss header destined for the net, but if Bogle did touch it then both the linesman and referee didn’t think so until they had a revisionist moment. Guess once, guess twice as Bowyer would say.
We saw out the rest of the game and injury time comfortably to get another win under our belts.
The negative was how lacklustre we were after Blackpool had a player sent off in the 2nd minute. You could not tell we had a man advantage and Ben Purrington was an accident waiting to happen. A bit like Ben Watson. That is now five yellows in five games. He still looks a long way off the pace and he and Pratley’s joint presence is not appealing.
Nonetheless the three points are. Nice one lads. Safe trip home.
Bow’s thought’s: “I’m pleased for Chuks because he’s really starting to come alive in that strikers role.”
Photo credit: @K_AndrewsPhotos
Chicago Addick 
CA – I agree that Darren and Ben together is a bit too much but you have to view Ben as our quarterback – he dominates the middle and is the fulcrum for everything. I’m sure I’ll get you persuaded on this one eventually !!
Our own ginger Tom Brady complete with yellow cards 😀.
You may Albury. You may.
I always look forward to your blog but on this occasion I’m a bit disappointed with your negativity. Thats 2 games for a virtually brand new team and 2 wins. Are you waiting for perfection?
Always Shetland ☺️
I am being harsh I know and if I wanted perfection then being a Charlton fan is not it! It’s a journey and we can’t ask for much more from the last three games considering where we came from.
Thanks for following the blog.
I’m just feeling particularly happy & positive at the moment I suppose – take the good time’s when they’re here!
I hear you. The best thing is that we are talking about football. The players, the formation, yellow cards. Feels so good rather than takeovers, dodgy ‘businessmen, administration and lawyers.
Bogle was unlucky, two minutes in and he was dragged back which resulted in a red card but he would have been clean through on goal. But for the foul he could well have had his account up and running. He was offside for Innis’s goal – it’s debateable whether he was interfering with play. For my money he was – he blocked off a defender who may have got to the ball. Sometimes these go your way…sometimes not.
There has been some negativity about pairing Pratley and Watson in midfield, but show me a more experienced pair of midfielders in L1. They lack a bit of pace but have kept us strong in the centre of the park and I think most of us would hate to line up against these two – it doesn’t make us unbeatable, but tough to beat in tricky midweek away matches. That said we surrender a bit of pace and dynamism when they both play. Maybe for away games but we have Levitt, Maddison, Gilbey, JFC and Williams to factor in so we have options in the squad.
Purrington was the only real negative, an early yellow and their right-winger, Hamilton had him sussed, another yellow looked inevitable. Perhaps a first half tactical substitution should have been made? Too late now. Maatsen took his chance well and I think he’ll get a few games, besides the cross for the goal he looked sharp, played the one-twos well and linked well with Doughty.
That’s two wins on the bounce against tough competition, we need to be sharper in front of goal. Consistency is so important, especally in this league, things though are coming together, as we know we are a tad behind most of our L1 peers thanks to the off-field issues but the catching up is going nicely.