Looking to reverse our recent slide, Charlton headed north to take on an in-form Wigan. From the off the Addicks harried and rushed Wigan, winning every second ball and pushing forward relentlessly. The first half was a masterclass, seemingly out of no where. Personally, I liked the balance of the team, with T Watson at left back and Assimwe on the right. L Watson and Dobson in the centre, with Camara and May on the right and Leaburn through the middle. On ten minutes, Camara pulled up after a tangle and looked to be in quite some pain. He was brought off and replaced by Tyreece Campbell, which seemed to only strengthen our forays down the right. Some twenty minutes on the clock one of those attacks down the right resulted in a L Watson cross that beautifully picked out Alfie Mayfor a point-blank-header, that was initially saved, but then bundled in. Only some ten minutes later, May struck again with a brilliant solo effort, eighteen yards out, left foot low and hard across the keeper and into the far corner. And some ten minutes after that, Leaburn flicked the ball brilliantly into CBT’s path to blast past the keeper and make it three nill. Charlton’s passing, movement, and aggressive pressing left Wigan shell-shocked.
Conversely, Charlton started the second half flatfooted and breathless—but mostly complacent—allowing Wigan to gain a foothold without really threatening. They did have their moments, striking the crossbar and coming close, but up until the 84th minute, it just didn’t look like it would be there night. However, it was in the final ten minutes, Charlton allowed Wigan to waltz through and score, not once but twice. To concede the first goal, a fine individual effort, was disappointing because it meant we failed to keep that elusive clean sheet—and that should have been motivation enough. To concede a second was downright criminal!
Over the 90 minutes Charlton deserved their three points, the first away victory of the season, perhaps on the strength of the first half performance alone. But they made it unnecessarily hard for themselves by walking through the second half and giving in to complacency.
Wigan 2 Charlton 3
Over to you.
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Comments
Also told ya so on the preview thread..
"Nailed on win...forever positive...🍺
Can't stand all this negative surrender stuff"...🙄
get in three points on the road...
The subs made it hard for ourselves because they weren't up to it.
stand by what I said on the match thread - winning 4 - 0 didn't do a lot for us before in the subsequent games - this kind of result focusses the team to not rest on their laurels far better than an easy 3-0 stroll would.
So what it was nervy? Wigan didn't want to give up the halloween ghost at home.
Alfie May is better than the hype, is he averaging a goal per game?
Kirk completely bottled challenge for the Wigan 2nd goal, hope Appleton noted that, perhaps we can give him away in January (Kirk that is)!
Superb first half with goals to match.
As for the ending...Some people just don't like excitement!
We were by far the better side but we're Charlton and we don't do things easily . I'm still livid at Charlie Kirk for their second goal. What the hell was he doing , why didn't he put a challenge in before the shot ?
Alfie May was superb as was Tyrece Campbell when he came on.
The side looks more balanced with Watson in Midfield instead of Fraser .
Felt incredibly sorry for Camara. It's not often you see a player cry when coming off injured and i fear it's a bad one.
Good win and regardless, Wigan is still a hard place to gain three points.
Alfie May is different gravy. Left foot, right foot, on his head... Brilliant.
CBT at it again.
Leaburn played the lone role very well and showed his quality.
Forgetting the last 10 mins or so we were by far the better team and managed the game really well in second half. Felt sorry for Camera, no one likes to see that.
Role on Sunday look forward to seeing old Charlie boy smash it.
Fraser I have always liked but we lost the midfield when he appeared and he was at partial fault for both goals.
Tedic came on and Shirtliff said something like, you want to see Tedic running hard to keep the ball in Wigan's half, he ambled around letting a knackered but forever willing Alfie May do all the running and closing down.
Could do with replacing all 3 of them in Jan.
First half was an absolute joy to watch and some of our footy was great, the defence was on the front foot. Most of the second half was quite even, their subs made a difference. Louis Watson is a proper diamond of a player, would love to get him perm but he will play for Luton in the Champ next season I imagine.
Maybe McGrandles will be fit to step into the Camara role?
3 points is all that matters ultimately, and finally a win away - great for the 400 odd fans who travelled in the wet, stormy weather.
I thought Tickle, Humphreys, Asgaard and Goodi(?) All looked good for them.
This is so silly. We will beat them comfortably as long as we don't field the U18s in it's entirety. Even then I'd back us to win.