Charlton Athletic 3 Stevenage 1
Into the hat, mission accomplished and it was a pretty decent display.
Nathan Jones made eleven whole changes but players got minutes, and youngsters got exposure, no more so than Ibrahim Fullah, who was excellent.
Alex Mitchell, Gillesphey, Anderson and Olaofe all stood out, but it was Fullah scoring on his full debut capping another exciting display. Leaburn also showed well and scored the first after a lovely slide rule pass from Olaofe.
2-0 up at the break, but our dominance should have yielded more.
The 2nd half wasn’t as free-flowing and once Stevenage put on a few regulars combined with Jones shuffling his pack the visitors got back into it.
Kanu, Kelman, Mwamba, Enslin entered the field as did Luke Berry, who gave everyone a nudge that he is still a goal threat by putting the game out of range with a great header from a Kanu cross.
Stevenage deserved their late consolation goal, but it was a good night’s work and we enter the Carabao Cup 2nd Round for the first time in three seasons.
🎙️“The main thing was to win and be in the hat for the next round. We made 11 changes, which shows the strength and depth of the squad. Stevenage are a good side and have started the season really well, so I’m really happy with the result.” – Nathan Jones
⭐️ Ibrahim Fullah
🏟️ 4,092 (374 Stevenage)
📸 Paul Edwards
Ibby is a Ballah!
Impressive night with youngsters not looking out of place in the team….a comfortable win….bring on the next team.
Didn’t go last night, but appears we played well and deserved the win, which shows the overall squad including some under 21’s, who are also on the fringe, are mostly of a better standard and want to win these not so glamorous games, and also putting the effort in, to show what they can do if given a chance. Which the paying customer wants to see and more supporters will then start attending.
Much better than previous seasons, where quite a few of the players seemed to be just treating these sort of first/second round games as almost like friendlies and not putting too much effort in, but would certainly up their effort, if it was a bigger club they were playing!
I fear I’m about to share an unpopular opinion……
I thought we played well in the first half last night and always looked like we could go up a couple of gears if required. I thought Leaburn, Anderson, Olaofe were great (such a shame Olaofe didn’t pull the trigger when he had the chance).
I didn’t think that much of Rylah or Fullah, it’s great that they got game time and I’m sure they will go on to improve hugely but Rylah in particular, put in poor cross after poor cross and had it not been for some very substandard defending then Rylah’s poor cross would never have reached Fullah for the goal – a Championship defence would not have allowed him to be able to finish that either! That said, he did finish it and he done it well.
I don’t see this being the breakthrough season for any of our academy stars but happy to be proved wrong!
Rankin-Costello seemed to disappear for very large chunks of the game, Knibbs didn’t have much impact (other than a nice back heal flick) and Kellman was nowhere near as busy as Leaburn was but hopefully he’ll get a goal soon and kick on from there.
I thought the defense looked solid for the majority of the game so we have some good cover options.
A good win, useful game time for everyone and another chance for them to impress in the next round. Hopefully some impactful performances to come for those I forgot were on the pitch – in the league where it matters most.
I have followed Rylah’s progress through the U18s and U21s and he is better than he showed last night, I think he lacks confidence, when playing before a big crowd. He played well in the preseason game at Dartford. He may benefit from a loan spell at a Div1 or 2 club until January, enabling him to gain confidence.
Hopefully he’ll get another chance to show what he can do Vs Cambridge.
After putting up my post from what I had read and heard, as I didn’t go, I spoke to my friend who I always go to Charlton with, as he went last night and his comments were exactly the same as Alan’s, almost a carbon copy, with each of his comments about individual players and the defense!
Ha! I thought I was going to get crucified for my comments.
I watched the game last night ,I thought everyone played well , good to see Leaburn score , how far we have come already under the brilliantly bonkers Nathan Jones !!! Coyr
And now we have a tricky tie against Cambridge utd 😀
I think we all accept that the step up from U21’s to men’s first team league football is massive. Some players rise to the challenge others struggle or take a bit more time to adapt.
I did not see the game, but know a couple of people who did go. Their comments were similar to those shared, although they felt that Fullah showed enough to suggest he can make the step up over the season. From what I have seen so far, he does appear to have something about him that stands out from the other u21s. He certainly is not championship level yet… but he is continues to develop I can see him being on the fringes as the season progresses. He is 18, and he has impressed with his technical ability and awareness. Certainly one to watch as the season progresses and who knows he might be there the run in period. He could be a cover for TC. Although olafe came on and filled that slot last Saturday.
Interestingly other championship club fans are already complaining about early season injuries and lack of squad depth. Anyway a big game on Saturday, it will be a test but so will a lot of games as the league looks very strong. COYR!