POST-MATCH THREAD: Southampton v Charlton Athletic: Saturday 21st February 2026: KO 15:00

The surprising news this afternoon was that Collins Sichenje made his debut at the back, presumably delighting our newly established East Africa supporter base. He looked comfortable from the off, but his keenness to make a challenge resulted in three fouls early on, one of which was on the very edge of the box and could have been disasterous had it been just a few centimeters in; fortunately, the resulting free kick came to nothing. The wily Leo Scienza looked to bait the aggressive young debutant into fouling him, which largely worked, but Sichenje didn’t rise to anything more than a common foul in the first half, despite being thrown into a baptism by fire against a very clever Southampton side in fine form.

Midfield too deep and Manning hit the crossbar from an 18 yard strike. Immediately, Charlton had a chance on the break but the ball was taken off of Sonny Carey’s foot in the box before he could strike or lay it off to Tyreece Campbell.

But Carey had another chance on 35 minutes when he stepped in to a shot on the edge of the box that he dragged narrowly wide with his left foot. The keeper looked beaten had the shot been on target.

Southampton dominated the first half in terms of possession, as one would expect. They would have been confident given their performance in South East London, yet Charlton’s discipline behind the ball in a well organised low block frustrated them, particularly as time wore on without their dominance bearing fruit. They did have their chances, of course, including a shot that Lloyd Jones cleared off of the line, a few Thomas Kaminski saves, a James Bree header, and one shot off the crossbar. But Charlton had a decent half too, limiting and frustrating a home side looking to play quick, free flowing football, then countering on the break, mostly through Tyreece Campbell. The first half finished 0-0.

No changes at half time for either side. Only three minutes in Scienza put in a cross that found Stewart’s head for a looping header over Kaminski to open the scoring. Moments earlier, Charlton had left players up field for a Thomas Kaminski clearance forward that was driven straight into the Southampton keeper, giving up possession too easily. From there, Southampton were able to mount an attack that ultimately resulted in a goal. The challenge for the visitors at then was to keep things solid and the home side within reach.

Unfortuantely, the game opened up. Southampton had their chances, but then, so did Charlton. The best for the visitors came on 56 minutes when Southampton played fast and loose at the back, resulting in an errant backpass that fell kindly to Lyndon Dykes. He brought the ball down, outstretching his arm, then slotted past the keeper, but the referee’s whistle chalked off the goal, accusing the antipodean highlander hybrid of handball. Replays were inconclusive and Dykes put up only a minimum of pushback; still, it looked like his chest control was legitimate to my eyes.

On about 64 minutes Southampton made a change, then a couple of minutes later, Nathan Jones elected to bring on Miles Leaburn for Tyreece Campbell. By that time, the rain was bucketing it down and conditions had deteriorated. The wet surface came into play almost immediately after the change, when Amari’i Bell’s pass to Greg Docherty and his quick touch to his right, working the ball from left to right, found Sonny Carey in a great position on the edge of the box. His shot was fired back across goal towards the left post, skipping off the turf, through traffic and past the helpless keeper. 1-1 and the visitors, rather than capitulating, were back in it. Carey’s eight goals this season have been so important…

Southampton then made a triple change, replacing Scienza, Stewart, and someone named Fellows. Then a bad foul on Miles Leaburn resulted in the Southampton defender receiving a yellow card. Sonny Carey’s free kick found the head of Lloyd Jones on the edge of the box and the ball fell to Conor Coady’s feet. Neither he nor Dykes could bundle the ball in. Charlton were with the bit between their teeth. Lyndon Dykes header some minutes later narrowly looped over.

All hell broke loose on 81 minutes when Charlton’s pressure resulted in a kerfuffle on the edge of the box. The referee seemed to bottle sending off the Southampton man, Downes, who it seemed had head butted Conor Coady, not once but twice, when getting in his face. He received a yellow, as did Coady. Coady was then replaced by Conor Coventry and the game resumed. Then, not long after, Lyndon Dykes went off to be replaced by Charlie Kelman. Collin’s Sichenje pulled up with cramp, having made a decent, valiant debut, and was ultimately replaced by Harry Clarke.

Ten minutes of added time seemed a little excessive but now the challenge was to stay organised and difficult to beat. Southampton threw everything at it in the final minutes but Charlton were resilient and worthy of a share of the spoils. When Charlton conceded it looked like the flood gates could open; but they didn’t. This side can be proud with their performance today. We’ve done well against the sides that came down from the Premier League. We were dogged and largely well organised and gave the decent away following, some three thousand odd, something to be very proud of. The hard won point has pushed us up a spot in the table to boot! Happy days.

Southampton 1 Charlton 1
Over to you.