Charlton started brightly up at Shrewsbury this afternoon, pressurising and battling for the first ten minutes. But Shrewsbury found their way back into it and went on a fifteen minute run where they dominated possession and peppered the Charlton box with dangerous crosses. Charlton stood resolute and managed to stifle Shrewsbury enough to go into the break even.
The second half saw adjustments to Nathan Jones’ setup that proved beneficial as Charlton smothered Shrewsbury. On 55 minutes, a Charlton corner looped high to the far post and on to Lloyd Jones’ head, then back into the mix, where Gassan Ahadme bundled it home with a combination shoulder, chest(?) combo. Up until then, Ahadme had put himself about, as usual, and had some nice touches, but I’m sure he’ll be absolutely delighted to have gotten off the mark this season in Charlton colours.
Shrewsbury persisted to little avail throughout the rest of the match. Mannion made a couple of very good saves, two with his feet, and will be pleased with another clean sheet.
A good away win. We’re still not dominant by any stretch, but in recent seasons we would have succumbed to Shrewsbury’s pressure and would have been lucky to have come away with even a point. We’re not there yet, but we’re hard to beat, have enough about us to pull through and turn draws into wins so far. We’re second in the table and off to a good start with more to surely come.
Shrewsbury 0 Charlton 1
Over to yous lot.
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Comments
It’s not been pretty, and I really hope that will improve as the season goes on, but 4 wins from 6 and 4 clean sheets is not to be sniffed at.
First half we were, after a bright opening 10 minutes, frankly, crap. Could easily have conceded a penalty and they had a few other moments.
Second half, Jones tweaked some things and we executed everything much better.
I’m not at all convinced by Ahadme, but very pleased he got his goal because you can’t fault his effort and I’d love for him to do well.
Thought Kanu and Godden made an interesting front two when they came on together.
Mannion had a good game too. Made one or two good saves and claimed a few crosses. Probably the busiest game he’s had for us.
Let’s start with the positives: a win’s a win, it’s another welcome clean sheet and several players had good games.
But there’s no getting away from it, we are the very definition of a “battling” side. The entire game plan seems to be about playing the percentages - tight at the back, hoofball, hope that something breaks our way. Today it did but we struggled to overcome a Shrewsbury side that are probables for relegation, a team that other sides with promotion ambitions will overcome much more easily. There is very little attempt to pass it around, play through the lines or actually create chances.
I’m hoping that Nj is simply starting with getting the foundations right, and to his credit he has transformed our defence already. But we’ve got to quickly also improve our attacking game - and I mean from all parts of the team, not just the forwards - otherwise I just don’t think it’s going to be anywhere good enough to be challenging for promotion come next May.
I'd much rather win a poor game one nil than lose an exciting game 4 3.
This team is still learning how to play together and I'm sure we will improve as the season goes on and key players return.
Onwards and upwards and enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Well done GA for the goal and well played all the lads.
If we can continue averaging a point per game improvement throughout the season, we will finish on 99 points.
_
Great to have another 3 points and clean sheet.
pray it keeps going and we can stay up there but I really strongly feel we are going to have to start playing well at some point if we want to do anything this season.
Other than that it was 50/50 stuff, but the result was everything today, and sees us in second place, and another clean sheet into the bargain.
Must say a special word for Mannion, who saved us on a couple of occasions with his feet, but is looking more solid with every game, also great travelling support again, safe journey home one and all...
There will be quite a few 0-1 wins on the road. Get your money on.
Well done charlton and please Ahadme has got off the mark.
But let's not kid ourselves. That was a far from impressive performance. Shrewsbury outplayed us in the first half and could have been 2 up. They had 3 penalty appeals - none of which probably were - bot on a different day one of them could have easily been given. And although Shrewsbury weren't that threatening, they had enough chances to easily have scored.
Midfield was totally ineffective for most of the game, resorting to just hoffing it up front in the hope something would drop our way. It didn't.
Kanu and Godden looked much more effective up front than Campbell and Ahadme although in fairness Shrewsbury were trying to get an equaliser and pushing up more when they came on.
Shout out from me to Mannion. An excellent game. Came and caught some crosses confidently and made a couple of good saves. He looks the part to me.
Onwards but not necessarily upwards if we carry on playing like we did in the first half.
But Coventry the MoTM for me. Outstanding.
4 wins, all clean sheets, a battling draw at home against a team most on here backed at the start of the season, and an off day away at a dangerous side that punished our sloppiness, something our manager is working hard to eradicate from our team.
There's going to be a lot more games like this in our future, our job is make sure we're the ones on the winning side as often as possible.
Hopefully, as the season goes on, the fluidity and confidence can improve as we win games like today.