CHARLTON 2 (Reeves 6, Fosu 39) GILLINGHAM 0
Attendance: 12,836 (1,401 Gillingham)Charlton Steer, Solly, Bauer, Pearce (c), Sarr, Bielik, Reeves (Marshall 77), Aribo, Fosu, Taylor, Ajose (Dijksteel 77).Gillingham McDonnell, Watson, Purrington, Nightingale (c), Thomas, Wagstaff (Burey72), Hartigan (Jervis 60), Pinnock, Barcham (Hanson 78), Soares, Wordsworth.
Summary
Back to back 2-0 Saturday victories at The Valley and 7 wins out of the last 8 move the Addicks up to 4th in the table. Comfortable win for the Reds who were superior throughout to the Gills. Two first half efforts sealed the victory, the pick being a fantastic strike from outside the box by Tariq Fosu.
Post Match comments
Bowyer:
“I probably would say that is the worst we’ve played for a while. We were scrappy at times, we gave the ball away sloppily, that isn’t like us. I thought we deserved to win. I think we controlled the game ok. We gave a lot of silly fouls away and they got a bit of pressure from that but other than that I thought that we were the better side and we deserved to win.
“I don’t know why, we don’t like killing off teams for some reason. I said to the lads ‘It was a good win, you deserved to win but that is not you at your best. So get yourselves home and get ready for the next one.' We’ve got three points and we’ve moved up another place so it’s a good day but I know what they are capable of. I’m not disappointed but it gives me the hump when they don’t do it properly at times.”
"Fosu looked a bit sharper last week against Wimbledon. Today, especially first half, I thought he was unplayable, like the Tariqe we had last season. I said we’ve just got to be patient with him. You don’t go from a good player to a bad player in no time at all. We just had to be patient, he was catching up fitness wise, so hopefully now he’s caught up and going on today’s display then I’d say we’re getting the old Tariqe back.”
STATBANK Player Marks
Fosu = 7.87
Solly = 7.53
Reeves = 7.35
Bielik = 7.31
Bauer = 7.23
Taylor = 7.12
Pearce = 7.11
Aribo = 7.00
Dijksteel = 6.73
Ajose = 6.22
Steer = 5.85
Team Average = 7.03
At the game...
@Blucher :
thought it was a game which we largely controlled and won comfortably, with a couple of moments of real class from Tariqe Fosu. Not our best performance by any means but we got the job done and 6 points and two clean sheets against two hitherto bogey teams is an excellent return and one that sets us up nicely for the three festive games. Good to bookend the year at the Valley with three points against our friends from the Medway, especially after the seeing to they gave us last New Year’s Day.
An odd first half, where we allowed Gillingham to push us back territorially and conceded a lot of cheap free kicks, although they did bugger all with it, save for Jed Steer’s fumbled cross, when they poked a close range shot against the outside of the post. At the other end, the four best moments of the half came from Fosu, two of which put us into a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break.
Gillingham, predictably, had a go at the start of the second half but Brandon Hanlon (who had troubled Jason Pearce once or twice with his pace) headed their best chance wide from a corner early in the second half. They never came as close again and their lack of quality in terms of the final ball meant that we saw the game out relatively untroubled. Indeed, some nice combination play of our own threatened a third goal but we never quite managed it and there was clearly no point in blowing a gasket with four important games looming in the next two weeks.
I thought that Fosu’s first half performance was sublime, while Taylor, Solly and Reeves also did very well. A few of our players were a little under par but we did enough collectively. Let’s hope Joe Aribo is ok, as the very last thing we need is another injury, especially in central midfield.
Fourth place and 43 points at the halfway stage of the season is one hell of an achievement, given the lack of squad depth, the number of injuries we’ve suffered and where we were at the end of August. If we can keep the squad together and Duchatelet can resist what comes most naturally to him, we have a real chance.
A better home attendance than I expected and kudos to the North Upper, who created a very decent atmosphere throughout.
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