Charlton Athletic v Northampton TownTuesday 9th March 2021 | Kick-Off: 19.00pmLive on Valley PassPrevious Result: Northampton Town 0-2 Charlton AthleticReferee: Paul Howard - Never officiated a Charlton match before. Paul Howard is usually a League Two referee having been promoted from Non-League this season
IntroductionBack to back clean sheets, back to basics and so nearly back to back wins for the first time since the end of October. The improvement and work rate from the last two performances are encouraging when compared to the forgetful February we experienced. One of the main plus points since the turn of the year has been Liverpool loanee, Liam Millar - the young winger was brought in to replace the outgoing Alfie Doughty. The former Addick's last game for the club came away at our next opponents, Northampton Town.
OppositionManager: Caretaker Jon Brady (33.3% win rate) | Stadium: Sixfields StadiumLeague Position: 18th | Nickname(s): The CobblersForm: WWLDLDNorthampton Town hosted Portsmouth on Saturday, surprisingly winning 4-1. Their line up was:
Mitchell
Kioso | Jones | Horsfall | Mills
Sowerby | McWilliams | Watson
Hoskins | Edmondson | Miller
Historically, the Cobblers rise and fall happened in such dramatic fashion during the 1960s. Across the decade, they won promotion from the fourth tier all the way to the top division, lasting a solitary season, just to fall in the same way back to the fourth tier again! That's about as exciting as it's got for Northampton who have spent the vast majority of their professional life in the bottom two divisions of the football league. Fast forward 50-60 years and Northampton recently changed their manager, sacking Keith Curle after losing at home to Wigan Athletic, a result that saw the Cobblers looking in real danger of making a swift return back to the fourth tier. As usual in football, be it a caretaker manager or a new manager, there has been a bounce. Keeping 3 clean sheets in their last 6 and winning two games in a row for the first time this season. An incredibly impressive result against Portsmouth on Saturday has set Northampton up nicely ahead of a trip to The Valley, knowing all too well of the form Charlton have at home. This is going to be another tough game. Let's ignore the league positions for a second, Northampton have kept clean sheets against Sunderland, Accrington Stanley, and Ipswich Town since the turn of the new year. Our form at home must turn around and it must start on Tuesday evening, but those expecting an easy 3 points should think again.
The Cobblers have an interesting side, some players right at the end of their career such as former Addick Mark Marshall. The winger has played 18 times this season contributing to a relatively impressive 5 assists. Although, he hasn't featured at all in their last two wins. Another is Alan Sheehan, the former Luton Town man won promotion alongside Andrew Shinnie with the Hatters a couple of years ago. However, Sheehan is out injured with a calf problem so will miss their trip to The Valley this midweek. One player I will pick out is young Ryan Edmondson, the 19 year-old is on loan from Leeds United, and although he has yet to score for Northampton since his move in January, the striker is highly rated by Marcelo Bielsa and was playing for Aberdeen at the start of this season. With good movement for a tall lad and very good finishing ability, he is certainly a player we should look to keep an eye on. Not quite to the level of Ellis Simms, but another young striker on loan from a Premier League club.
Charlton Team NewsTuesday night sees us welcome back Darren Pratley into the squad after his two match ban. The midfielder when available is always included in the 18 man squad. The return of Forster-Caskey has seen us gain far more control in midfield and performances have improved too. The type of player where if he plays well and works hard, the rest of the team usually follow. With playing two 90 minutes in quick succession after a minor hamstring injury, we will have to hope that the left footed midfielder will recover well enough in time ahead of Tuesday evening.
One player who looks set to miss out on the squad is Adam Matthews, the right back came off in the first half against Oxford United on Saturday; a real shame as the Welshman looked to have just started to get into his stride. We hope that this latest injury is only another minor setback. Great news on the injury front came late last week where Ryan Inniss will be returning to full first team training on Monday morning with Alex Gilbey expected to do the same this week too. The treatment room is emptying out and the squad is starting to look much stronger in the final 13 matches of the season.
Northampton have been playing a 4-3-3 in recent weeks so we have to ensure we don't get overloaded down either side of the pitch. We need Millar to continue his hard work off the ball and whoever plays on the right side of midfield for us will need to do the same to protect Gunter at right back. We can also hope that Famewo has recovered well enough to play again on Tuesday. The young Norwich loanee looked very tired come the end of the game away at Oxford. Personally, I fancy Schwartz to play at some point against the Cobblers and be really hungry to prove many people wrong.
Subs: Harness, Purrington, Pratley, Smith, Jaiyesimi, Washington, Schwartz
If only we could replicate our away form to home form, we would pushing for the automatic positions right now... The form at home has been so poor but that must change now. Our season will be decided within 10 days. Failure to win our next 3 home matches and another season in League One is a certainty, this really is a must win game if we are to give ourselves any hope of kicking on. A rare home win for the Addicks.
Charlton Athletic 2-0 Northampton Town
Aneke
Schwartz
Comments
4-0
@happyvalley style.
We are shit
Still i am going for a Very Comfortable home win 3-0, don't care who scores
Just pretend we are playing away. Keep a clean sheet and win the game.
If we play hoof ball for 90 minutes we will loose 0-2.
Tighten it up against a team who have won their last 2 but didn’t win any of their previous 12
comfortable win 2-0
once I know the team, I can confirm the result
I might rest Millar who has looked jankers. Give DJ a try on left-wing.
But I wouldn't complain if LB started the same 11 since they are the ones getting results at the minute.
I do worry about Akin because he looked knackered and physically awkward the entire game on Saturday. I hope it's just general stiffness and soreness that comes with being out of action for so long.
Watson doesn't seem interested IMO.
Pratley is out of petrol for the season.
We can't seem to get a midfield foothold in our games, and it's been behind our loss of form.
Buying Cullen would have been a good move.
Burton put 6 past us
Rochdale put 4 past us
Swindon put 4 past us
and they are in a relegation scrap.
20/21 is over already guys.
The exciting and talented Millar will continue his steady descent into a startled rabbit in the headlights, Chuks will sulk for being played out of position or not at all, Pearce will watch the ball bounce in front of him before engaging in bouts of mud wrestling, Watson will spray five metre sideways passes with millimetric accuracy, JFC will play with his hair a lot and Pratley will return, only to be sent off again.
Bowyer will blame the ref, the universe, the wage cap, the empty stadium, the opposing manager, his horoscope and global warming.
CL members will be shocked and hurt by the poor result and insist we will have to start a winning run soon to make the play offs.
0-2
Where is the flair in the side?
We are still lacking the goal scoring touch, little or nothing from midfield and we rely on Chuks and Stockley, the latter for some reason has recently been relegated to the bench. I'd like to see Purrington back in defence to give us more stability there (although we are not conceding many).
I hope our players will be getting in plenty of penalty practice today, and we need to up our attempts on goal. All Together Now .. IF YOU DON'T SHOOT YOU DON'T SCORE ..
On paper this should be a home banker, but this season, in the EFL there is no such thing
CAFC 2 v Northampton Town 0
I hope the form does rub off on our Valley return and that there is little tinkering. I would like to see the return of Purrington, but if so, the younger legs of Smith and Millar need to stay in the side, otherwise we will be too pedestrian.
Amos
Gunter Famewo Pearce Purrington
Smith J F-C Watson Millar
Aneke Washington
1-0 win and totally uninspiring, but nobody cares as we close the gap on the rest. Washington with the goal - a pen, just has to be.
shall we put you down as an undecided..