Wycombe arrived at the Valley this festive season having only lost one on the road all campaign, full of confidence and sitting second in the table. But Charlton have been performing well over the holiday period themselves, starting with the same eleven that have won back-to-back victories. The two sides pushed and pulled for the first half hour with Charlton having the better of the opportunities and Wycombe looking organised but contained. Luke Berry had a couple of chances in that period, one of which he should have done better with, but it was Miles Leaburn who picked up where he left off to open the scoring*. Another Josh Edward’s long throw caused issues and Leaburn stuck his leg out past his man to drive in his first goal of the afternoon on forty six minutes to take the Addicks into the lead going into halftime.
The second half started with the Addicks building in confidence. On fifty-two minutes Leaburn struck again as he broke free into the Wycombe half and, seeing the keeper in no-man’s land, skillfully lobbed the ball over and down into the back of the net to put Charlton two to the good.
Charlton were in complete control and Wycombe looked devoid of ideas. Leaburn, tired and on a yellow, was taken off for Ahadme, with Karoy Anderson also coming on to refresh the centre of the pitch. Wycombe had made quite a few changes themselves at that point looking for a bit of inspiration. That came from Richard Kone, Wycombe’s top scorer, who found himself with space in the box and curled a shot past Maynard-Brewer to set up a tense final fifteen minutes. In hindsight, Wanderer’s supporters will surely be asking why he had been rested. While Wycombe gained confidence from the goal, it proved only a consolation as Charlton were determined to see out the good performance with all three points.
We’ve returned to being well organised at the back and difficult to beat. And we’re now scoring more freely. The squad should have a bit of confidence going into the back end of the season, poised to make a playoff push. Three wins on the bounce take us up into seventh place in the table, up from eleventh before kickoff. So, all in all, the Addicks are finally pointed in the right direction. Will we be in a position to strengthen in January to ensure things stay that way?
Charlton 2 Wycombe 1
Over to you.
*Editor’s note: Leaburn’s goal to open scoring occurred at the beginning of the second half, not in the first! It was level at halftime.
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Comments
Looking solid going into the next stage of the season.
Underperforming team are coming good
COYR!
That was Birmingham at home all over again. Every player worked their socks off , closed the opposition down and made them look ordinary at best.
A month or two ago we would have blown that lead.
We just need to do the same at Crawley on Wednesday.
Well Done lads
Onto Crawley, can we make it 4 from 4? I think we can!
If we can exorcise our Crawley demons on Wednesday I’ll start to think we may finally be clicking.
Second half we moved the ball better and picked them apart, Leaburn showing his class with two different but decent finishes. They eventually got back into it when two of ours fell for the same feint and they scored with their first shout on target.
We became more ragged but worked hard defensively, they lacked the sickness of the first half and grew desperate.
3 in a row now, long may it continue.
If we had won that by more than one goal then that would have been fair.
Apart from being fairly organised, I don't see how Wycombe are where they are...thought they were bang average!
Absolutely beautiful to see us actually try and play some proper attractive football the last few weeks - and it has clearly paid off!
Made hard work of it somewhat at the end, with TC and small getting lazy and lackadaisical but it worked out. Hate to say it but the slight dip in performance coincided with Andersons introduction- really hard to see what he adds at the moment
Can’t wait for Crawley, booking for Preston.
Gillesphey has played much better.
But Lloyd Jones is the anchor. We’re so much better when he’s in the squad, organising the back and being a leader that seems to scoop up everything around him.
What a win, onwards and upwards from here.
Defence looking a lot better now Jones is back & also heps having a proper full back at right back, even if Small is a left back by trade.
Might have egg on my face re my comment about Leaburn but I'll take that every day of the week if it means he scores every time I say it.
Understand we are unable to find the money at the moment.