Charlton 3 Ipswich 0
Ahearne-Grant and Muldoon on target as U18s prosper on academy day
Iain Liddle reports from Sparrows Lane
Charlton’s U18 side kept up the pressure on league leaders Queens Park Rangers on Saturday morning as the club’s ‘academy day began with a bang.
Karlan Ahearne-Grant and Oliver Muldoon were on the scoresheet for the Addicks with good goals at the start of each half respectively, with the latter adding a third before full-time, and the home side were value for their victory after a pleasing performance at the club’s training ground.
The win takes them to within three points of QPR at the summit of U18 Professional Development League 2 – South, with a game in hand, on a day when the club’s first team match against Leeds United will celebrate the importance of the academy and good work being done by Paul Hart and his staff.
It took just three minutes for Charlton to make a breakthrough against a compact Ipswich side, with Harry Gerard the architect.
The playmaker found space in the middle of the park and played an intelligent diagonal ball through to Ahearne-Grant who took a touch before burying it past Michael Crowe.
The Addicks were dominant in the opening stages and passed the ball round in an aesthetically-pleasing way, but also with purpose and they won several early corners.
One such attack ended with Ahearne-Grant being inches off target with an attempted through-ball to Tobi Sho-Silva, who himself later showed good energy to create a chance for Oliver Muldoon at the back post.
Tareiq Holmes-Dennis’ afternoon ended sooner than hoped when an injury forced him off in the first quarter of the game and he was replaced by Tomi Adeloye, as Charlton’s pace calmed after 25 minutes and Ipswich began to gain a foothold in the game.
Chances remained at a premium for the visitors from Suffolk, however, and Town skipper Jack Willbye had their only meaningful effort on goal in the first period which was blocked by England U17 defender Joe Gomez and left goalkeeper Dillon Phillips still waiting to warm his palms.
It may have only taken Charlton three minutes to break the deadlock in the first period, but they began the second with the same intensity and doubled their lead 90 seconds after the resumption.
After reaching his usual levels of performance in the first half, Muldoon showed tenacity to dispossess Amir Berkahe on the edge of his own penalty area, before taking a touch and curling into the top corner from 20 yards.
Sho-Silva also looked brighter after some half-time words of encouragement from Hart and academy head of coaching Steve Avory and forced a good save out of Norwegian stopper Crowe soon after Muldoon’s strike.
Charlton were composed and comfortable for the remainder of the game with Phillips only being called into action to make a routine stop from Lemal Ramadan’s shot, although the goalkeeper did catch the eye with an impressive kicking display.
With captain Diego Poyet pulling the strings the home side remained in control and were not forced to exert any undue energy ahead of Wednesday’s league match at home to Colchester United (1pm), although Muldoon added gloss to the scoreline with a smart finish late on for their third.
Charlton: Phillips; Pyke, Edwards, Gomez, Lennon; Poyet, Muldoon, Gerard, Holmes-Dennis (Adeloye), Ahearne-Grant (Umerah), Sho-Silva.
Subs (not used): Thomas, Stewart, Kennnedy.
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Comments
Next thing we know Chelsea will be exploiting the loan system in order to develop the player whilst retaining his registration. How is hoarding players fair and appropriate? Of course, in the end, if as is almost certain, he proves not to be good enough for Chelsea, they'll spit him out and collect a fee.
Wake up FA.
I've sent the Chelsea FM researcher a message, I'm sure he'll know a bit what has happened.