Charlton Athletic 1 Stockport County 1 ( Football League ) Saturday 19 October 2024
County somehow came away from the Valley with a share of the points today from a game rife with incident and controversy in which the blues took an early lead via a penalty , scored by Louie Barry after home keeper Ashley Mannion had floored Nick Powell in the box.
The remainder of the first half saw County largely on top but without ever looking likely to add to their lead.
It was `all change’ after the break as a raft of substitutions by Nathan Jones tipped the games balance firmly in the direction of the home side who particularly prospered due to Miles Leaburn`s introduction around the hour mark – County had terrible trouble containing him, but Tyreece Campbell had been on the park since kick off and we struggled with him too!
By way of comparison the blues substitutes were ineffective, add to that a bewildering propensity on our part to allow Addicks to draw us into a boorish contest in S H that saw both teams waste prodigious amounts of time with tiresome theatricals and other dark arts, and what we were watching at times was not greatly edifying.
Then there was Mr Reeves the Referee who I thought went over the top by some distance with his card waving at County`s expense in the second half.
His approach offered a veritable recipe for disaster- signalled vividly by Green`s goal on 66 minutes , and amplified exponentially as Fraser Horsfall was shown a second yellow and a red for what looked a good tackle just over 20 minutes later.
Yellow cards were like confetti at the average wedding in the second half , but if Mr Reeves bears much of the blame having largely lost control , County must take their share too for lapsing into SH …..losing focus to a degree …their lead….and almost the game as a result.
But somehow the 10 men of County hung on, defending every free kick that headed their way( and one such headed in in the 98th minute ), so we`ll take the point , and hope County address what needs to be sorted for Tuesday`s game at Edgeley Park!
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The game opened promisingly with County winning a corner almost before most in the away end had taken their seats, but the excitement subsided as Touray planted his drive from the kick wide.
Charlton were struggling to respond- winning a corner on 7 minutes and then wasting it.
Already Tyreece Campbell was looking to be Addicks `go to man` and Mingi had to produce a saving tackle of some brilliance to stop the red shirted wide man as he ran onto a delightful through ball from Taylor- the resultant corner again wasted- being overhit to Karoy Anderson, wide right, who failed to test Addai with his effort.
That all happened around the tenth minute- 2 minutes on and` County had the lead!
Suddenly the Addicks back line were toast and Nick Powell was bearing down on goal – it looked 50/50 twixt the pair as the ball bounced towards goal until the odds were changed abruptly and Mannion , the home keeper , appeared to clatter him.
Mr Reeves thought it so and Powell had treatment for a while after wards before Louie Barry stepped up to do the honours putting a near perfect penalty away to acclaim from County`s large travelling support.
We were one up and looking pretty good with it too!
But Charlton did not just go away….sure their corners continued to creek arthritically along causing the blues zero alarms, but they had started to pick up free kicks and one by Taylor went close – Addai having to make a very good save to deny Anderson after County`s midfield went into doze mode gifting Addicks the ball in a dangerous area!
Some of our work, under no particular pressure ,was not great- Powell and Connelly having to work hard to stop the rot after County had conceded a cheap corner unnecessarily.
So, Charlton kept probing- Tyreese Campbell blocked on a run 25 minutes in…Godden denied on the end of a cross by Anderson by good work from the County back line.
Powell meanwhile was busy drawing fouls…winning free kicks – a chance emerging from one ,on 29 minutes, until Connolly sent his header wide.
We needed something from County to raise the spirits at half time, but the 41st minute saw Mr Reeves halt a neat County move as Powell sent Barry clear with a neat pass- the ref had apparently seen a `foul` by Powell, but I for sure did not see it that way- Charlton were saved!
Charlton shaded the action in what remained of the first half -County going in at the break 1-0 up!
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County were under much pressure as the second half opened- free kicks lifting Addicks spirits but not providing a goal.
And County had a familiar problem- Mingi was struggling with an injury which rather cried out for him being substituted probably for Fevrier who was busily warming up.
But the hour mark came and went with Mingi still on the park- Fevrier still in warm up mode whereas Charlton had replaced Docherty with Leaburn.
County meanwhile had succeeded in frustrating their followers by winning a corner and then wasting it , their most experienced player Ollie Norwood managing to get booked for blatant time wasting in the process!
The blues rang the changes next- Tanto, Bailey and Fevrier coming on for Powell, Norwood and Mingi.
Barry was unlucky with a run with just over 20 minutes left, but it was Charlton who were more and more in charge- Horsfall doing brilliantly to block Leaburn who was threatening !
Then, the pressure told on County – Addicks finally doing something with a corner- the ball running to Green who fired home their equaliser.
Rarmani Green continued for Charlton sending Leaburn clear again- it looked a certain goal again but somehow Connolly made an improbable last gasp stop on the line to keep it at 1-1.
The pressure continued from Addicks – County`s back line working overtime and at full stretch to keep the scores level- but unable to prevent Leaburn from powering onto a corner. His header went wide, and we had escaped again !
County brought Diamond and Fiorini on for Barry and Wootton with just over 10 minutes of normal time left.
And there were signs of life from County and certainly on the away end where the big County following were excited to see Tanto dart clear- but he had 3 defenders on him thus was forced wide to await the arrival of Diamond .
It looked promising but when the move broke down it prompted a break by Leaburn for Charlton, and he looked in good nick as he powered into the box with Pye for company , but he then opted to crash to earth as if dead ,rather than have another go at beating Addai.
He wanted a penalty obviously, but Mr Reeves did not oblige, and rightly so!
On it went…..Anderson picking Leaburn out nicely only for County`s over pressured back line to crowd Mitchell out when the eventual cross came over.
But County could not clear their lines properly and the next action saw Addai forced to dash from his goal to prevent Leaburn from getting a free pot at goal.
Then we were back to the SH again as Godden made a four-course meal with side dishes and afters of going down following what looked a perfectly good tackle by Horsfall. Mr Reeves by this time was in orbit somewhere other than the Valley waving his card collection in Horsfall`s direction- first a yellow and then a red as he had flashed a yellow at him earlier.
Horsfall duly walked….we railed on impotently…..whilst Godden proved to the watching world, or 13711 of them , just how remarkable the recovery processes of the League One footballer are- truly remarkable for sure!
We were into 7 minutes added time now, and County still occasionally mounted a raid, but mainly the action was at the other end where the free kicks piled up for our hosts.
Charlton were odds on to nick the game for sure -if only by virtue of the volume of free kicks they were being awarded, and it was a small miracle that County`s 10 men were still holding the line steadfastly refusing to concede again, no one more so than Addai who made a fine save on 93 minutes to keep Mitchell`s header out.
On it went….Dixon picking Leaburn out with a neat pass that the burly forward blasted wide!
The game went into the 97th ( of 97) minute with Touray`s time wasting earning him a booking- it was depressing stuff- thank goodness for Addai who was in position once more to save Berry`s shot.
98…..99…the minutes continued to tick away and the Charlton free kicks rack up-the latest the product of a gruesome slow motion collapse by Tyreese Campbell as he attempted to tease his way into the County box down the left flank.
The minutes ticked on…the game went on…the free kick was valiantly kept out by the remaining 10 County bodies on the park.
Eventually Mr Reeves blew for time, and we could be done with him.
For County there is much to learn from this experience, and perhaps I have been unnecessarily harsh at times in this offering, but after all is said and done a point has been obtained in difficult circumstances at a spot I can imagin the Hollywood set doing far worse than had County done today next week- I am only glad I will not be there!
I will be at EP on Tuesday though – see you there!
CharltonAthletic line up :-
Mannion; Ramsay (Edmonds-Green 37), Mitchell, Gillesphey, Edwards; Docherty (c) (Leaburn 62), Taylor (Dixon 90+1), Anderson, A.Campbell (Berry 46); T.Campbell, Godden
Subs (not used): Maynard-Brewer, Small, Mbick
Stockport County line up:-
Addai, Touray, Bate (c), Horsfall, Powell (Fevrier 64), Pye, Connolly, Mingi (Fevrier 64), Wootton (Fiorini 79), Barry (Diamond 78), Norwood (Bailey 65)
Attendance: 13711 (1242)
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