Charlton women news - (2025-26 fixtures are on page 106)

BenHaimandBikey · November 16

Thought we were fantastic today, probably my favourite performance I can remember since I've been watching them.

Well-deserved winners.

EpsomAddick · November 16

As others have said, that second half performance in particular was outstanding. We pressed them really effectively high up, which meant they hardly ever managed to get the ball into the final third, and if they did, either a Charlton head or body was in the way or Sophie Whitehouse came out to deal with it. We grabbed control of the game in the first 15 minutes after half-time, firstly with a coolly taken penalty by Katie Bradley after a foul on Muya and then with a goal from Gracie Pearse, inexplicably left alone in the box to stab home. Bradley then nearly scored a wondergoal, wriggling out of a tight spot in our own half, striding forward and hitting a shot from long range that the keeper just managed to push around the post.

Bristol City only had two real chances: the first was an incredible double save from Whitehouse, and the second was shortly after we'd gone 2-0 up, when under pressure their attacker could only head over the bar. To nullify a team that scored seven last week is hugely impressive – there must be something in the air at Sparrows Lane for both our women's and men's teams to have such good defensive records.

Performances like that make me really start to believe that we can do this now. Well done Karen and the team.

rananegra · November 16

That was a good game, I came to it thinking this would be the one where we get found out, because we've been winning games without playing very well. First half was pretty even but second half we dominated. It was good to see as well that the forwards (like in the men's team) are there to run defences ragged. Fitzgerald did that wonderfully today - I had thought she was a bit easily pushed off the ball when I've seen her before but was pestering the City defence constantly. A real team effort today.

JustFloydRoad · November 16

Saw Jason Sudeikis was there today (anyone else from the Ted Lasso cast)?

lordromford · November 16

One player I found frustrating today was Karin Muya. Everytime the ball went to her, she seemed to have such a poor first touch that her second touch either didn’t materialise or it was a tackle.
Having said that, the one exception was just before the pen and then she won the pen too!

fenaddick · November 16

lordromford said:

One player I found frustrating today was Karin Muya. Everytime the ball went to her, she seemed to have such a poor first touch that her second touch either didn’t materialise or it was a tackle.
Having said that, the one exception was just before the pen and then she won the pen too!

Thought the winning of the pen was so funny because it was her poor awareness that won it. Really she had a great shooting opportunity but failed to notice and then got bundled over

Weegie Addick · November 16

lancashire lad · November 16

who?

sammy391 · November 16

JustFloydRoad said:

Saw Jason Sudeikis was there today (anyone else from the Ted Lasso cast)?

https://x.com/CAStrust/status/1990107265039278372?s=20

Saw someone at the game suggest that the cast of the show were there too?

Garrymanilow · November 16

lordromford said:

One player I found frustrating today was Karin Muya. Everytime the ball went to her, she seemed to have such a poor first touch that her second touch either didn’t materialise or it was a tackle.
Having said that, the one exception was just before the pen and then she won the pen too!

Yes, that will happen. I remain absolutely mystified by what Hills sees in her, especially over McAteer

Weegie Addick · November 16

lancashire lad said:

who?

The writer and lead actor from Ted Lasso. Rumour has it the fourth series will be about women’s football.

JustFloydRoad · November 16

sammy391 said:

JustFloydRoad said:

Saw Jason Sudeikis was there today (anyone else from the Ted Lasso cast)?

https://x.com/CAStrust/status/1990107265039278372?s=20

Saw someone at the game suggest that the cast of the show were there too?

Weegie Addick said:

lancashire lad said:

who?

The writer and lead actor from Ted Lasso. Rumour has it the fourth series will be about women’s football.

Fun Fact: Former Addick Eni Aluko was in the episode Rainbow

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5000498/uploads/editor/29/21w5dfeb8md5.png

But doubt she was there today.

Crusty54 · November 16

sammy391 said:

JustFloydRoad said:

Saw Jason Sudeikis was there today (anyone else from the Ted Lasso cast)?

https://x.com/CAStrust/status/1990107265039278372?s=20

Saw someone at the game suggest that the cast of the show were there too?

They were all there.

They are going to film something on the pitch next year.

EpsomAddick · November 16

Meant to say earlier: Kiera Skeels was there, on crutches and with her foot in a cast. As was Ellie Mason, who can be seen in the background of that picture with Jason Sudeikis - there hasn't been any update on her at all, has there? I'm assuming some kind of injury as we haven't seen her play since the second game of the season, but it would be nice to know.

Crusty54 · November 16

EpsomAddick said:

Meant to say earlier: Kiera Skeels was there, on crutches and with her foot in a cast. As was Ellie Mason, who can be seen in the background of that picture with Jason Sudeikis - there hasn't been any update on her at all, has there? I'm assuming some kind of injury as we haven't seen her play since the second game of the season, but it would be nice to know.

They're both wearing a boot rather than a cast. They have been at recent home games.

LenGlover · November 16

Great that the girls are keeping up the momentum.

DyerConsequences · November 17

Highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa8I9WRMEhE

EpsomAddick · November 17

That challenge by Pearse on Syme really looks like it should have been a penalty... I can only guess the referee didn't see the pull on the arm clearly and thought she went down too easily.

I enjoyed the commentator on those highlights inventing a penalty that Bradley apparently scored on the opening day.

lordromford · November 17

EpsomAddick said:

That challenge by Pearse on Syme really looks like it should have been a penalty... I can only guess the referee didn't see the pull on the arm clearly and thought she went down too easily.

I enjoyed the commentator on those highlights inventing a penalty that Bradley apparently scored on the opening day.

She did score the winner from the spot against Newcastle, which I think was our 3rd or 4th game, so I guess that’s what he was referring to, but he must’ve had duff info.

Garrymanilow · November 17

EpsomAddick said:

That challenge by Pearse on Syme really looks like it should have been a penalty... I can only guess the referee didn't see the pull on the arm clearly and thought she went down too easily.

I enjoyed the commentator on those highlights inventing a penalty that Bradley apparently scored on the opening day.

In those highlights he also calls Muya Newsham when she wins the penalty and it's not in that video but I remember the commentator saying it was Thestrup who assisted the second when it was Newsham. Don't think it was the best bit of commentary we've had

TelMc32 · November 17

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5000498/uploads/editor/so/zjzakkyu2kbo.jpeg

Huge achievement on any level 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Swindon_Addick · November 17

23 Nov: Southampton, league cup, away, 2pm. At Eastleigh FC. £5 adult, £2 under-18. Tickets from here.
24 Nov (Mon): draw for Round 3 of the FA Cup
30 Nov: week off, international weekend. England play friendlies against China at Wembley Sat 29th and Ghana at Southampton Tues 2nd. Tickets are on general sale from the Wembley website.
7 Dec: Portsmouth, away, 2pm. At Havant & Waterlooville FC. £8 adult, £6 over-64, £2 under-18, £1 under-14. Tickets from here.
14 Dec: FA Cup round 3. Venue and timing TBC.
21 Dec: Nottingham Forest, home, 2pm. At the Valley. £7 adult, £5 over-65, £2 under-18. Tickets from usual website.

The Forest game on the 21st will mark the half way point of the season and the start of the two week winter break. The next game after that will be Ipswich away on 11 Jan.

The 30 November international break doesn't feature any home games for the Addicks' Welsh players - Wales are playing both their games in Spain.

fenaddick · November 17

Also 2 games away from being unbeaten in the league in 2025, it's astonishing.

When you factor in that Birmingham, LCL, Newcastle, Bristol City and Palace have spent a lot more than us on their squads it makes the achievement evem more impressive. I genuinely don't know how they've done it

Garrymanilow · November 17

fenaddick said:

Also 2 games away from being unbeaten in the league in 2025, it's astonishing.

When you factor in that Birmingham, LCL, Newcastle, Bristol City and Palace have spent a lot more than us on their squads it makes the achievement evem more impressive. I genuinely don't know how they've done it

What's been particularly pleasing is it was this time last year that we threw the league away. We started last season really well with 4 wins from 4 and then had a horrendous October and November, didn't win one game in 5, losing 3. We ended the season strongly but could never recover the points we dropped in that rancid autumn run. On the one hand it's a warning that we're very capable of putting in a really bad month and our lead disappearing but I think mostly it shows that we're a bit more solid and a bit more streetwise than we were. I don't know how sustainable the constant goalkeeper errors and opportunistic goals are but the defensive shape and effort aren't based on luck and if we can go into the new year with the lead we have we can be confident

EpsomAddick · November 17

I think Karen Hills adheres to the same school of thought as Nathan Jones: a solid defence will get you a long way.

Our goals against Southampton showed the value of having a decent goalkeeper. And Sophie Whitehouse is more than decent - the double save in the first half yesterday showed incredible reactions, and she is so calm under pressure and good at dealing with aerial balls. She sets the standard (including in her role as captain), which in turn gives the defence confidence, so that even without Skeels and Mason we've been very solid and difficult to break down. Lucia Lobato has slotted in really nicely, and I thought Mia Ross did well too when she came on yesterday.

I'm still a bit concerned by our forward options, as it's remarkable that we're four points clear at the top of the table despite not having scored more than two goals in any game so far. I'd like to see Gillian Kenney start a league game at some point because I think she has more to offer than Amalie Thestrup, and an injection of pace in the January window would really help. But even if we don't have that same attacking punch as other teams at this level, we've shown that we can usually nick at least one goal, and more often than not that's enough to win the game.

Another factor in our favour is that no one else can put a consistent run together. Birmingham are the biggest threat but have lost twice, to us and to a Southampton team that scores for fun but leaks goals left, right and centre (20 for, 15 against!). Newcastle are 4th despite only winning three games. Bristol City went from scoring seven last week to being shut out yesterday, and were also thumped 5-1 by Birmingham on the opening weekend. Crystal Palace have only won twice, and Nottingham Forest lose as many as they win. What we're doing might not be particularly easy on the eye at times, but we are the hardest team to play against in this league.