Charlton Athletic 1 Leyton Orient 0
I didn’t know if that was going to come, but our superior fitness told and Luke Berry’s 92nd minute winner gave us a second league 1-0 victory.
Clean sheets were impossible to come by last season, but Nathan Jones has fabricated a base from which we can build.
It wasn’t pretty, but Leyton Orient present what many clubs in this division do, especially on their travels, and that is a steely resiliency, a threat on the break and a tendency to waste time at the first opportunity.
We overcame all that, and although there is need for improvement, these players are well drilled, aggressive and fit. The fitness levels are a remarkable step up from anything we’ve seen in recent years.
The back three were solid and organized. Ramsey was excellent and exciting, but sadly Edwards was carried off after a dreadful foul by Sean Clare, that any VAR camera would’ve given a red.
We hope that Edwards’ injury isn’t as bad as it looked, but we do have Small to replace him, and he was lively, but his final ball not as polished as Edwards.
Whilst we grew into the game first half, we dominated the second, and chances started to open up when Aneke and Godden replaced Campbell and Adhame on 77 minutes.
Aneke made more things happen than Adhame did in a quarter of the time including the goal, which came from a lofted ball forward from Gillesphey. Coventry pushed the ball on after it fell to him from Aneke’s header and Berry ran onto it and finished into the corner.
This season we are going to see tighter games, but a spirit and aggressiveness to grind out results. The long ball will be a weapon, but so will quick front-footed football epitomized by Ramsey today.
A creative midfielder and maybe that bloke back from Birmingham and we might be able to stay up the right end of the table!
🎙️”The physicality, the aggression and the intensity that we played with – I was delighted.” – Nathan Jones
⭐️ Kayne Ramsey
🏟️ 15,126 (1,919 O’s)
📸 Kyle Andrews
Fantastic to kick off the season at the valley with another win! The sun was shining and it was rocking at the end….
But hard graft and you hope we’ll get sharper at the top end of the pitch as the season progresses..
cheers to you all we can have a celebratory drink…….👍👍
What another drink but well played CAFC but concerned about who is going to score our goals but maybe spread around but not impressed with our NO 9 but early days.
CA a good blog as usual and yes tongue in cheek about that bloke from Brum but mayne CAFC will have the last laugh but he scores off his thigh or anywhere but he has gone.
Hard earned 3 points today but we showed grit and determination all the way through the game.
Great atmosphere and although it was very physical at times we stuck to Nathan’s game plan.
Sean Clares challenge was a week late but he’s not a player who goes out to hurt a fellow professional.
hat he did exactly that and no doubt Efwards wil be out for a while but hope not.
Well done CAFC.
How long can we eke out one nil wins before the rest of the division work us out?
one week daggs !!!
The first half was quite equal but the second half our fitness, strength and ability to play with greater intensity was the difference. Orient brought all their subs on and were going down with cramp while our starting XI minus the front two and Josh Edwards were still going strong.
The referee bottled some decisions – I didn’t think that there was any intent in Sean Clare’s challenge but it was dangerous and worth a straight red. Josh Edwards has been booked in for an x-ray on Monday which suggests that there’s no sign of an immediate break, but it could be a few weeks before we see him again. Chuks should have a penalty for being hauled down in the box just before the goal, Beckles was all over him after he came on and the ref ignored every challenge.
We also need to work on the final ball – every corner was wasted as were free-kicks and crosses into the box. I’m struggling to think of any meaningful possession we got from putting the ball into the area. We have a couple of tall strikers and three centre backs who are 6ft plus and we were unable to hit them.
Defensively we were again solid.
No intent !!!!and he intended it and Jones very careful with his words and wonder when he will be in the stands just a start CAFC but do things quietly.
Defence played well today and looked pretty solid. We lack a constructive midfield player that can make a telling pass and make something happen. We didn’t move the ball quickly enough in that area today. Two or three corners ended up in the side netting….. I can only assume Coventry was trying to hit someone at the near post, something perhaps we have been working on in training. Clare should have seen red, but we will take six points out of six with two clean sheets.
Let’s hope that the injury to Edwards is not too serious as he has already shown that he is a really good player.
The run by Ramsey that ended with a shot that hit the woodwork reinforced my opinion that he would make an impact in midfield, as the current players in those positions are ineffective.
As for Ahadme, not for me. Aneke was pulled down and should have had a penalty and provided the flick on that led to the goal. I thought Coventry mis-controlled the ball but luckily it ran to Berry
Ahadme 0 May 2
Yes have a great friend and so far not at all impressed with Ahadme but early days but he can not hold the ball up and for such a tall player ad does not exactly use his weight.
From the highlights Coventry did not have a bad game and yes he can claim an assist with the goal and about time we had a bit of luck but CAFC really deserved the win and it was very gutsy display,