Charlton put on a scintillating performance to beat Portsmouth 2-1 in front of the Sky cameras at The Valley on Saturday evening. The match was a great advert for League One football.
Personnel wise, Lee Bowyer made one change from the team that drew at Doncaster a week ago, with Anfernee Dijksteel coming in for Chris Solly at right-back.
The game started off brightly, with the Addicks having the better of things, and Bowyer’s team came desperately close to taking the lead after 20 minutes.
Jonny Williams fed the ball to Josh Cullen, whose goalbound shot hit Igor Vetokele on the line, with the keeper beaten.
Little was seen of Portsmouth as an attacking force, but Charlton had to wait until the 41st minute before getting the goal they so richly deserved.
A move down the left saw Ben Purrington pass the ball to Cullen who played it to Joe Aribo, who had his back to goal.
Aribo swivelled, took a touch to get the ball out of his feet, before firing across Craig MacGillvray and just inside the far post.
Alas, the lead did not last long. Pompey launched their first meaningful attack in the last minute of the half, and earned a corner on the right.
Ryan Curtis rose unopposed beyond the far post, to power an unstoppable header past Phillips.
Ben Reeves replaced the outstanding Krystian Bielik at the start of the second-half, the latter suffering from a tight hamstring.
Six minutes in, the Addicks notched the decisive goal. The ball came to Reeves in the area. Reeves dinked the ball to Lyle Taylor, who had the simple task of prodding home from close range.
Bowyer’s team continued to have the better of things, though Portsmouth did, correctly, have two efforts ruled out for offside.
The win did come at a cost though. As well as Bielik, Williams had to be replaced because of a tight hamstring. Bowyer explained the situation after the final whistle:
“Bielik and Williams are both tight hamstrings. I don’t know the seriousness of them yet.
“I thought Krystian was outstanding first-half. Hopefully they are not too serious but it’s too early to tell now.
“I don’t know if they’ll be available for Tuesday. We’ve got a squad of players and they’ll all be chomping at the bit to play.
“Hopefully we don’t lose them for Tuesday or for a period of time.
“We’ll have to have a look and see how they all are. Joe Aribo has been struggling with a bit of a tight groin, and then I know that Naby Sarr has been the same.
“The pair of them, I’m going to look and see how they are as well. We’ll be in tomorrow, assess everybody and see where we go from there.”
The gaffer was naturally delighted with the three points, and had this to say about his team’s performance:
“It’s fair to say we say we deserved the game and we should have won by more.
“Josh Cullen had a chance early on in the first half, which hit Igor on the back, but that’s what’s been happening with us recently.
“We’ve been getting draws because of things like that. Thankfully, the most important thing is is we got the three points and I thought we probably deserved it. We played well today.”
It was an outstanding performance, but the players had to work really hard. Recovery time will be vital ahead of Tuesday’s game with Burton.
Charlton: Phillips; Dijksteel, Bauer, Sarr, Purrington; Bielik (Reeves 46), Cullen, Aribo, Williams (Fosu 58); Taylor, Vetokele (Pratley, 84).
Subs (not used): Maxwell, Solly, Lapslie, Parker.
Goals: Aribo 41, Taylor 51.
Portsmouth: MacGillivray; Thompson, Burgess, Clarke, Brown; Naylor, Lowe, Evans (Pitman 76), Close (Donohue 61), Curtis; Hawkins (Vaughan 61).
Subs (not used): Bass, Walkes, Solomon-Otabor, Hanstrup.
Goal: Curtis 45.
Booked: Hawkins 52 (dissent), Burgess 69 (foul), Naylor (foul).
Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire).
Attn: 14,451 (3,097 Portsmouth).
TAGS: Charlton Athletic