Charlton Athletic v Barnsley
Tuesday 4th March 2025
Kick-Off: 19:45
Live on Sky Sports+
Referee
Carl Brook (Sussex) - Previously officiated a Charlton game back in September in our 2-1 victory away at Cambridge United in the EFL Trophy. The last league fixture he was the man in the middle for was in September 2023 where we won 2-1 at home to Fleetwood Town.
Introduction
ABSOLUTE SCENES! When was the last time we had scenes and emotion like that?! Probably the 2019 play-off final, but we have had a couple close to it already this season, Shrewsbury at home comes to mind. Saturday's last minute winner against promotion rivals Leyton Orient, away from home, has done many things, but belief has to be right up there. This group never give up, having now scored 10 goals in stoppage time already this season, the most in Europe, two stoppage time goals swung the game in our favour and the away end erupted into complete jubilation, joined by the players and the staff from the visitors bench. There is real belief growing in SE7 that this season could be something special. With 13 games to go, we look to continue this run and feeling into another big game on Tuesday night. Barnsley travel down to the capital for our final midweek home match of the season.
Opposition
Stadium: Oakwell Stadium
Manager: Darrell Clarke
Nickname(s): The Tykes
Form: DLLWWW
Previous result: A 4-3 win at home against Lincoln City. Their line up was:
Smith
McCarthy - Roberts - Earl
Nwakali
O'Keefe - Phillips - Russell - Gent
Humphrys - Keillor-Dunn
Barnsley have won 3 on the bounce, bringing them back into the play-off picture. The Tykes are a streaky side though, their last 15 league games have seen 8 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats. These have come in the form of 5 wins in 6, followed by 5 defeats in 6, now they're on this run of wins. The last game saw a 4-3 win, and although two late goals from Lincoln brought the score line much closer, even being 4-1 up does not represent how the game unfolded. Lincoln were arguably be the better team throughout, creating chances and getting into dangerous areas, but as has been the case for much of the season, underperforming when it matters most. If we go by expected points, we should be 5th, Lincoln 6th, and Barnsley in their current position, in 10th. In fact, the Tykes had 5 shots all game against Lincoln and happened to score from 4 of them. The defending, from both sides, left a lot to be desired. They're are not going to have that luxury against us on Tuesday evening.
Without a doubt, Barnsley's biggest threat is Keillor-Dunn, the attacking midfielder/forward was a feature in my last preview when we played Barnsley. He opened the scoring that night when we somehow drew 2-2 after scoring to go 2-1 up in the 93rd minute. Keillor-Dunn has since gone on to score a further 10 league goals since including 3 in his last 2. As I mentioned back in October, stopping him is going to be important for us as he is a talented player. Another one to watch out for is Adam Phillips, the midfielder has got into double figures in each of the last two campaigns and already has 9 in all competitions despite being out with injury at different moments of the season.
Charlton Team News
I know lots of fans will be calling for Gilbert to make his first start on Tuesday given the impact he had off the bench with the two assists and he does deserve to be given that opportunity. However, I don't feel Berry has done much wrong and despite missing a glorious chance in the first half, he gets into those positions regularly and with TC drifting wide a lot, Berry's position and anticipation helps Godden. Additionally, Berry also used to play for Barnsley and as shown in the reverse fixture where he scored two good goals, that could be the case again this midweek. Instead, the change, if Nathan Jones is going to make one, that I could see happening is the skipper coming back in for Karoy Anderson. The academy graduate was excellent against Exeter the other week whilst Docherty was ill, but the experience and quality of Docherty was on display against Orient and I feel he comes back in now.
I would also like to give credit to Gillesphey. He's never been my favourite player to say the least, and for much of the season I was unhappy to see him playing, that was amplified by his mistake against Blackpool last month. However, he's popped up with two really important goals and is growing into this role. So credit where it's due, he's improving, like a lot of the players, and it's really good to see.
Some players will continue to feel unfortunate missing out on the squad, Mitchell and Kanu in particular, but whilst the team are on this run and putting in the performances on a regular basis, you can't make changes for changes sake. They all know there will come a time where they're needed, it's up to them to ensure they're ready when that chance arises.
Mannion
Ramsay - Jones - Gillesphey
Small - Docherty - Coventry - Edwards
Berry
Godden - TC
Reid, McIntyre, Watson, Anderson, Gilbert, Aneke, Leaburn
Charlton Athletic 2-0 Barnsley
Berry
Jones
Comments
I’m going 2-0 to the Addicks
But we are not playing Peterborough ………
Could also argue that the team in the final 10 minutes have been doing their fair share of winning as well.
I think both Godden and Berry deserve to come out of the team for Leaburn and Gilbert. We're playing well but feel that could lift us to another level.
I'd start Doc for this one as I think his urgency helped change the game againt Orient.
I'd love Gilbert to start but Berry hasn't done much wrong tbf.
Win this and other games go our way, things will be looking very rosy Tuesday night. UTA!
One thing I thought happened on Saturday against Orient that I didn’t write about, but was meant to, is how I felt we snatched at things throughout the game and is why we didn’t go ahead or convert the chances and situations we created.
Maybe it nerves, maybe it was knowing how important that game was for both sides, who knows. But I do feel like we sometimes need to just take a moment and assess, or even if we decide to have a shot or a pass, make sure the connection and conviction is right.
That is my only proper criticism of us, too often we snatch at opportunities when the final product or shot really ought to be better. If we can start to just relax that tiny little bit, I think we’ll have a few games where the goals will fly in.
Saying all that, in the last 10 games no one has scored more than us, 18, and in the last 15 games only Birmingham have won more points than us.
At least our lads had no real travelling yesterday, so that should help their recovery and freshness. I appreciate that not everyone can make the midweek games but let's hope that we get a bigger than usual crowd for a Tuesday game to generate some atmosphere. A win would be fantastic and really set us up for the third of our '6-pointers' this month.
But Barnsley have hit form.… I go for a draw 2-2
Barnsley win and their right back in the hunt for top six.
I personally feel a draw wouldn't be the end of the world; for those of you who believe we can finish top 2 it may well put that dream to bed but 5th or 6th and handling the odd injury that will incur before the end of the season to key players will surely halt the momentum and charge up the League. It will be an amazing improvement in results from November if we finish 5th or 6th.
I will go 1-1 against Barnsley who are a fine away side, just like we are a fine home side since early December.
My mantra is it's just as important the 11 at the business end of Matches than the beginning so Nathan, the analysts and Doctor Abbott have some some big discussions on who will be at their optimum fitness with the 3 games a week in March.
Beware the ills of March !
ills because the ides won't make players miss matches 🤷🏻♂️🤞🏻
The ides by mystic meg of her days, was a warning about the 15th of March for those of you who don't know !
I hope thy soothsayer in Shakespeare didn't mean thee 15th this month as we are at home to Wigan.
It must be Bulls-pizzle.