Two late goals from Callum Harriott and Tosan Ebigbeyi-Popo weren't quite enough to clinch a draw as a CAFC XI lost 3-2 to a Tottenham Hotspur reserve side in a private friendly on Tuesday afternoon.
The duo, both on as substitutes, netted in the final 10 minutes as Charlton aimed to come back from a 3-0 deficit at Spurs Lodge.
But although first-team coach Mark Kinsella was pleased with his side's display, he admitted that the home side deserved to win.
"It was a good work-out and an honest performance from the boys,” he said. "Both teams took things seriously and played the game at a good tempo.
"It might have been interesting had there been another five minutes after Tosan scored our second, but that was in the closing stages and they deserved the victory.”
Although there were five goals in the match, the half-time score was 0-0, and Kinsella paid tribute to a sound defensive display in the opening 45 minutes.
Joe Carter, Carl Jenkinson, Yado Mambo and Jonathan Fortune protected goalkeeper Ross Worner well, but the new arrival from Woking also made a series of saves when he was called upon.
"It was a decent game, and we were just a bit unfortunate to be on the losing end of the result,” explained Mark, who fielded Jose Semedo in midfield to give the Portuguese some match time as he serves his three-match suspension.
"Ross was exceptional at times, and was integral to our clean sheet at half-time. One save at the feet of Jon Obika was particularly brave, and their striker came off worst.
"Yado was excellent as well, and put in an honest performance. He's got great enthusiasm and he's at an age where he will make a few mistakes, but his desire to learn and improve is great to see and he made a number of important last-ditch tackles.
"We had to work together as a unit and be disciplined defensively. We had to work on our shape in particular, because they had a lot of good movement - particularly in the final third - and they were a joy to watch at times.”
Although Spurs had the better of the first half, Charlton created chances themselves and Lewis Perkins twice got behind the home defence, firing one shot just wide.
Ben Davisson also caught the eye, and Tamer Tuna, playing up front with Perkins, will have been disappointed he didn't test the Spurs goalkeeper more following a great cross by the winger in the second period, with the Addicks striker missing the opportunity to level the scores at 1-1.
Kinsella said: "There were some good battles all over the pitch. Yado and Forch had to cope with Obika, and Lewis and Tamer were up against two solid centre-halves, so that was a decent test for them.
"They're both youngsters who are probably best playing off a big man with a bit more physical presence, so that's an area for them to work on. There was some nice link play, but they need to challenge better in the air and hold up the ball, so playing against someone like Steven Caulker was good for them.”
Winger Harriott hadn't been on the field long when he reduced the arrears to 3-1 with a fine left-footed shot into the bottom corner, and Ebigbeyi-Popo made it 3-2 from the penalty spot with a minute to go until the final whistle.
"Both sides made a number of changes in the second half,” said Mark. "Spurs took off Caulker and we put on a triallist up front, who was brought down in the box after we had intercepted a pass and Jenkinson had played the ball through.
"It might have been interesting with a few more minutes, but you don't mind losing these games as long the performance has been good and the effort has been put in, which was certainly the case.
"It was nice to go to Spurs and use their lovely facilities, and we were looked after well.”
Charlton starting XI: Worner; Jenkinson, Carter, Mambo, Fortune; Smart, Semedo, Stavrinou, Davisson; Tuna, Perkins.
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Comments
Good to see a couple of the u18s score.
Tosan Popo seems to have a great knack of scoring regularly.
It's mentioned that Jon Obika played for Spurs and he's a great young striker. I'm guessing the trialist was the mystery Dutch striker! At least this has got the rumours going again.
Plenty of midfielders though, and Parky is probably after a winger as competition for Wagstaff and Reid.
Orlando Smeekes???Is this him?
I mentioned this last week, but why the secrecey ??? Is it such a problem to name him ???
With Spurs playing in Berne those playing would have been mostly those unlikely to make the first team squad so that makes the prospect of loans more likely imho.
Those 3 all played in the match. Kane as a sub.
"Both teams played well, it was a good competitive match. There were a lot of lower league coaches and managers again here today and they're all talking about our players after that.
"The process we have here is to get our lads out on loan at the right clubs, playing men's football and building their careers from there. We've seen how many of them have already gone out to good clubs in the Championship and League One, that's exactly what we want to see more of."
Spurs: Ranieri (Miles 80); Smith, Caulker (Durojaiye 58), Butcher, Byrne (Blackwood 72); Carroll (Stevens 72), Nicholson, Luongo, Mpoku (Kane 60); Obika, Oyenuga.
Charlton: Worner, Jenkinson, Carter, Samedo (Warren), Mambo, Fortune, Davisson (Camacho), Stanirou, Perkins, Tuna (Popo), Smart (Harriott)."
Obika was at Yeovil and Millwall last year.
Not heard of Kane or Kudos (great name) Oyenuga. Any more info on them.
Not sure why all the coaches and managers were there. I though they all sat around waiting for the Chairman and Agents to give them a list of players they could pick from :- )
PS No reference to our trialist.
Obika has already made his debut for the first team (played in the UEFA cup against Shaktar Donesch or whatever they were called) and is classed as a Professional. Kane and Oyenuga are in the academy. Kane is one of the most prolific we're had at that level, scored 18 in 22 games in the 09/10 academy season. Clive Allen and Tim Sherwood have been saying for a while that Kane could go on to very big things indeed.
Obika scored 4 in 10 for Yeovil and barely got a look in at Millwall towards the end of last season. 12 sub appearances and 1 goal.
I wouldnt be surprised to see Obika go out on a longer term loan again but would have thought Kane and Oyenuga would be kept in the development squad until the end of the season at least.
Thats what I know anyhow...
If the former are as deadly as the latter can be, they could be great for us! :-D
Gimme 2 secs, i'll ask steve camacho who it was
1 day later, I reckon that's time up, mate.
Longest 2 secs that I can remember. Well, any news .....?
;o)
I think he's looked good when I've seen him but it's a big step up.