CHARLTON 3 (Jombati OG 32, Taylor 71, Sarr 80) WYCOMBE 2 (Williams 7, Cowan-Hall 89)
Attendance: 10,358 (1,078 Wycombe)Charlton Steer; Bauer, Pearce (C), Sarr; Solly, Pratley (Lapslie, 56), Ajose (Reeves, 47), Aribo, Page; Grant, Taylor (Djiksteel, 90 +2)Wycombe Allsop, Jombatti, Jacobsen (C), Gape, Stewart, Mackail-Smith (Onyedinma, 57), Morris, Thompson, Akinfenwa (Cowan-Hall, 79), Williams (Kashket, 63), McCarthy
Summary
Charlton recovered from a dire opening half hour to record back to back victories. The Addicks deservedly went a goal behind, from a good finish by the dangerous Williams, in an opening period where the Charlton were all at sea and half a yard behind Wycombe. A fortuitous OG from a low Page cross underservedly got the reds equal. However, after the half time break Charlton come on far stronger, particularly boosted by the additions of Reeves and Lapslie and worked well to secure the victory, with further scrappy goals from Taylor and Sarr.
Post Match comments
Bowyer:
“The most important things is that it’s good to win ugly at times.“Last week we won and played well, but it won’t always be like that here. Teams are going to come and make things difficult for us so we have to be prepared to keep patient and keep the ball, which we did at times.
“Overall, we deserved to win and we showed the togetherness and character to come from behind. “The crowd were getting a bit agitated, but they still showed the determination to go and get the three points which is the most important thing, no matter how you do it.”
“Reeves did well in the second half, he has the quality to unlock things. Lyle and Karlan were much better in the second half and that was the Lyle Taylor that we signed. We were the better side after the break and we deserved to win, but the first-half was disappointing. We just can’t put two halves together at the moment, but it will come.”
STATBANK Player Marks
Taylor = 7.83
Pearce = 7.46
Lapslie = 7.44
Reeves = 7.25
Bauer = 7.10
Sarr = 7.07
Page = 6.82
Grant = 6.80
Solly = 6.62
Aribo = 6.53
Steer = 6.40
Pratley = 5.52
Ajose = 4.93
Team Average = 6.75
At the game...
@Blucher :
A really dire first half hour, in which Wycombe pressed us high, dominated the midfield and constantly overloaded us on the flanks, especially on our left, where Page was constantly found himself in 2 v 1 situations. Their first goal was the result of some lamentable defensive play, as we switched off and let Williams have bags of time and space to curl his shot inside the far post. It was a totally flat performance from us, with the full backs pushed into a back five, Pratley and Aribo outnumbered in midfield, Ajose totally ineffective and Taylor and Grant feeding off scraps. We picked up after the fortunate own goal (albeit from an excellent Page cross) and Grant's run and cross and Taylor's tremendous overhead kick would have been a stunning goal if it had been a foot lower.
We made a fairly weak start to the second half and, once again, Wycombe looked the more likely, although we got to grips with The Beast and Reeves and Lapslie started to turn the tide in our favour. Reeves played some really incisive passes and Lapslie's energy, desire and quality contributed greatly to some fine combination play. Aribo responded by picking up his game and Taylor started to terrorise their defence, especially the number 5 (who was an error strewn bag of nerves) and the number 3 (who seemed to fall over whenever Taylor got near him).
Wycombe completely ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes, perhaps as a result of their incessant pressing in the first hour. Akinfenwa and Mackail-Smith are no spring chickens and it probably didn't help their cause to lose Williams, who had looked dangerous, possibly as a result of Pratley's nasty challenge. It wouldn't, however, be Charlton unless we conceded a late second to make it nervous and overly long injury time. Incidentally, what a totally absurd booking of Steer for alleged time wasting, when Pearce waved him forward to take a free kick.
The game was certainly not a thing of great beauty but three points and three goals are not to be sneezed at, particularly with a significantly depleted squad. Steer had an uncertain first half, particularly on crosses, but looked better after the break. I thought that both Pearce and Bauer did well, whilst Lapslie, Taylor and Reeves were excellent in the second half. On the debit side, Ajose was very poor and Pratley offered very little. I thought that Chris Solly had a poor first half (he is no wing back) but he looked much more comfortable once he had George Lapslie in front of him.
Let's hope that Bielik isn't out for too long and that Cullen and Ward return from international duty unscathed.
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