I'm torn between wanting an easier tie on paper, or drawing a bigger fish, but I'm tending toward the latter because, if we get a L1or L2 side and lose, it will feel as though it's all been for nothing. It's like saying 'bank' on the weakest link, you want it to mean something before it all goes horribly wrong.
Man City at the valley for next round please. Haaland won’t have played for a few weeks due to WC and will need a warm up before prem kicks back in along with some other world class players. Cheat code to score 92nd min winner.
You know what...looking across the league and 3 cup competitions combined, and setting aside the performances, we actually are rather in the habit of winning football matches.
the glaring exception in the last two months is of course losing abjectly at home to the bottom of the league side, which naturally was my first game at the Valley for six months.
And while the U21s have sagged a bit in the last couple of months (maybe the best young players haven't been available), the U18 results are positively fearsome.
If I were an optimist I would suggest that is evidence that the manager is instilling a good mentality and approach which is applied right though the club. I hesitate to suggest that this says anything about other aspects of the club, but I think these are reasons to be cheerful
The Stevenage ‘covered end’. They took exception to his robust challenges and were singing at him (you’re a wanker in a shit mask etc) plus booing him.So he wastotally justified giving it to them.
The less said about the first half the better. We literally handed them the lead with an unnecessary handball and they also worked two clear sightings of our goal, only to squander both opportunities. Stevenage clearly targeted our left flank and found considerable joy there, with Richard Chin receiving scant support from Jack Payne. Our only semblance of a threat came down the right, where Clare was energetic and Rak-Sakyi went on a few good runs, being chopped down a couple of times for his trouble. Our delivery into their box was very poor - in contrast to theirs - and our sole opportunity came when Morgan latched onto a nice through ball and dinked the ball over the keeper, only for it to go narrowly wide of the post.
Our turgid play continued into the second half, with lots of passing across the backline, allowing a very well drilled and organised opponent to get everyone behind the ball, retain their shape and deny us any space in the last third. You could see why they're going so well in League 2 and how they managed to knock out Reading and Peterborough to reach this stage.They sat back, pressed us aggressively once we got anywhere near their goal, won the majority of second balls and continued to offer a real threat offensively. Wollacott had to make a decent save and one of their guys headed over what looked a very good opportunity when he somehow found himself unmarked in the centre of our area.
The quadruple substitution on the hour didn't make any immediate difference, although we eventually managed to push Stevenage back in the latter stages and I thought that the introduction of JFC gave us a greater measure of control. It nevertheless looked as if we were exiting the competition after Inniss hit the bar and Clare headed over a neat cross from Kirk, only for Chuk's thunderous finish to save the day. What a guy.
Not a thing of beauty and much the same can be said of Stevenage, at least the little we saw of it - it seemed to comprise endless dual carriageways, multiple roundabouts, underpasses and more retail parks than you can shake a stick at. The decision to break our journey for food and beer in Hertford was most certainly the right one.
Anyway, all's well that ends well and let's hope for a decent draw on Thursday.
Best bit about the penalties (apart from winning obviously) is when Fraser scores, Rak-Sakyi is one of the first to sprint off towards him in celebration.
There's often a feeling that loan players don't really care, so it's nice to see that sometimes they do.
I got the 10.47 Thameslink from Stevenage, as did hundreds of our fans, finally got home to Lee at 4am.
Our train to Peterborough was delayed by an hour..Never mind. Shit performance up until the subs came on.Have to say to respond to comments that Stevenage is a shit hole. We went to old town and it was really nice. Oh and in response to one of the comments from the London platform. We are definitely Charlton fans. COYRs
Comments
Don't get to see his goal and don't even get to see his penalty
https://londonnewsonline.co.uk/ben-garner-admits-charlton-did-it-the-hard-way-as-they-beat-stevenage-on-penalties-in-the-efl-cup/
the glaring exception in the last two months is of course losing abjectly at home to the bottom of the league side, which naturally was my first game at the Valley for six months.
And while the U21s have sagged a bit in the last couple of months (maybe the best young players haven't been available), the U18 results are positively fearsome.
If I were an optimist I would suggest that is evidence that the manager is instilling a good mentality and approach which is applied right though the club. I hesitate to suggest that this says anything about other aspects of the club, but I think these are reasons to be cheerful
https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/85302/rolling-reels-charlton-match-highlights-thread#latest
justified giving it to them.
Follow follow follow, Charlton Athletic are the team to follow
we got innis and egbo
albie and Dobbo
Our turgid play continued into the second half, with lots of passing across the backline, allowing a very well drilled and organised opponent to get everyone behind the ball, retain their shape and deny us any space in the last third. You could see why they're going so well in League 2 and how they managed to knock out Reading and Peterborough to reach this stage.They sat back, pressed us aggressively once we got anywhere near their goal, won the majority of second balls and continued to offer a real threat offensively. Wollacott had to make a decent save and one of their guys headed over what looked a very good opportunity when he somehow found himself unmarked in the centre of our area.
The quadruple substitution on the hour didn't make any immediate difference, although we eventually managed to push Stevenage back in the latter stages and I thought that the introduction of JFC gave us a greater measure of control. It nevertheless looked as if we were exiting the competition after Inniss hit the bar and Clare headed over a neat cross from Kirk, only for Chuk's thunderous finish to save the day. What a guy.
Not a thing of beauty and much the same can be said of Stevenage, at least the little we saw of it - it seemed to comprise endless dual carriageways, multiple roundabouts, underpasses and more retail parks than you can shake a stick at. The decision to break our journey for food and beer in Hertford was most certainly the right one.
Anyway, all's well that ends well and let's hope for a decent draw on Thursday.
There's often a feeling that loan players don't really care, so it's nice to see that sometimes they do.
I need tea, can’t begin to explain what a nightmare journey it has been.