POST-MATCH THREAD: Charlton Athletic v Queens Park Rangers: Wednesday 9th September 2026: KO 20:0

The Addicks looked to bounce back from their comprehensive defeat last week against Stoke with a return to The Valley against west Londoners, Queens Park Rangers. Conor Coventry and Sonny Carey returned to the starting eleven, with Timothy Ouma and Joe Rankin-Costello moved to the bench, making that two changes from last time out. Danny McNamara sits this one out as a result of his ban, having collected two yellow cards at Stoke.

Charlton started really well, finding most of their joy down the left through Tyreece Campbell. Only four minutes in and Leaburn’s efforts were rewarded with a totally torn shirt that he had to replace. He then flashed a header just wide from a corner kick. Charlton had the better of the first ten minutes and QPR had the better of the next fifteen. Charlton soaked up lots of pressure and found it difficult to retain possession. Without Nathaniel Chalobah, we don’t seem able to play through the midfield effectively.

On thirty-six minutes, QPR dangerman Lamptey went off with what looked like a hamstring issue. Just moments after play began again, Oliver Skipp managed to intercept the ball in the middle of the park and bring it under control, turn and drive forward in a Chalobah-esque manner. Skipp played the ball forward expertly to split the defenders and into Tyreece Campbelll’s path, leaving him one-on-one with the keeper. Tyreece slotted the ball into the back of the net but was ruled offside. It was certainly tight! And Nathan Jones was seen letting the fourth official know that the wrong call had been made.

Inspired by the ruled out goal, Charlton were now somewhat ascendant. A corner resulted in a bit of pressure on the QPR goal, but still, by forty-three minutes having elapsed, there still hadn’t been a shot on target from either side. There were two minutes of added time that Charlton used them to try to scramble a(nother) breakthrough that wasn’t to be. Ivan Mesik went down in the box, when he tripped over a fallen defender, but that wasn’t given and both sides returned to the dressing room without anything between them.

Miles Leaburn was replaced by Joe Rankin-Costello to kick off the second half, with the tall forward seeming to suffer a strain or similar issue. Rankin-Costello went to the right in a back five, with Ivan Mesik moving to the left, and Karlan Grant taking up Leaburn’s position as the spearhead in attack. A couple of minutes in, QPR had to make another change of their own, with their captain unable to continue through a foot issue.

On sixty-one minutes a Charlton break fizzled out only for QPR to counter when Tyler Bindon made an error in possession on the halfway line. In truth, the ball never should have been played his way. Nevertheless, QPR broke forward with only Okonkwo to beat but the Charlton keeper stood strong and made a save with his feet to save Charlton’s blushes.

QPR were now in control again with the majority of possession. Micah Mbick was bought on to replace Sonny Carey, marking another change in formation. Mesik was back to right back and Karlan Grant returned to the right wing.

QPR had the majority of the rest of play, relegating Charlton to quick counterattacks, mostly through a tiring Tyreece Campbell. On eighty-four minutes, Alan Mwamba replaced Oliver Skipp, providing some much needed fresh legs in the middle of the pitch. Millenic Alli replaced an exhausted Tyreece Campbell with two minutes of normal time remaining. Three minutes of additional time were deemed enough to cover stoppages and all were seen out without a change in the score.

Charlton deserved their share of the points. The performance, while certainly not impressive, was important in the sense that it stemmed the bleeding from our last outing. A clean sheet and some talking points, including a disallowed goal that seemed fine, and a possible penalty,. Charlton struggled to conjure up much of note in the second half but contained the visitors well and fought hard.

Charlton 0 QPR 0
Over to you.