Port Vale vs Charlton AthleticSaturday 6th January 2024 - 3pm Kick-OffReferee: Martin CoyIntroduction
It would be fair to say that Charlton went through the Festive Football period in less than speculator fashion - We entered 2024 on the back of five games without recording a single victory, so when Chem Campbell opened the scoring against Oxford on New Years Day, a few faint hopes amongst the Valley faithful were briefly lifted... Unfortunately we insisted on starting 2024, the same way we finished 2023 - Lets hope that our away form picks up at the very least this calendar year.
The Opposition
Name: Port Vale (15th) - Manager: Andy Crosby
Ground: Vale Park
Previous League Result: Carlisle 2-1 Port Vale
After all it wasnt helped given the fact that half our games over the Christmas run, were away from the Valley - Given we've recorded just the one win outside of SE7 this season, its unsurprising that we kept to form, even with our opponents being who they've been these last few weeks.
This Saturday we make the trip to Staffordshire looking to change that... No we almost NEED to change that approach - Fears of relegation for now are as outlandish as hopes for the Play-Offs a month or two ago - However hosting us this Saturday are Port Vale, a side who started the season in stunning form, after losing their opening fixture 7-0 at Barnsley, the Valiants would go on to record five out of six victories, including a 3-2 win at the Valley... Perhaps their least impressive win, given our own early season form.
Vale's form nose dived in mid-September though, and have recorded just three since... Unfortunately all three have been in December, and our opponents come into this game with those three wins in their last six, with just two of those games ending in defeat - Vale sit below the Addicks purely because of their horrendous Goal Difference, however if the hosts record their first double over the Addicks since X, then it will be another position dropped... No doubt making it that slightly bit harder to make us an attractive proposition to any reinforcements this month.
Charlton Team News
There was a Plymouth Defender being shown around the Valley on New Years Day, many fans would have hoped to see an announcement by now, but its suspected that Macaulay Gillesphey's New Year Resolution is to steer as clear as possible from SE7 - It means that another week goes by with our depleted squad, and a continued over reliance on youngsters who like Joe Pigott all those years ago, shouldnt be exposed to this situation.
There will at least be hopes that Alfie May has recovered from the niggle that kept him out of our last fixture against Oxford.
Maynard-Brewer
Watson - Hector - Jones - Edun
Anderson - Dobson - Fraser
May - Kanu - Blackett-Taylor
Substitutes Bench: Walker - Thomas - Asiimwe - L.Watson - C.Campbell - T.Campbell - Casey
Comments
2-0 defeat and hopefully it’s his last game in charge
games included) perhaps provide a clearer picture. Oh, and Leaburn played in those league defeats before this run. Seen most of the games live, so not sharing reactively after merely the recent run of losses.
3-1
Always hopeful, but a best a draw…at worse I dread to think .
If it’s another poor performance, Appleton might just need a tin hat!
That said, I expect us to lose anyway