Settle on you best team and stick with it – Kevin Nolan’s verdict on Charlton’s abject start to the League One campaign

BY KEVIN NOLAN

As the heavens opened in a deluge of Old Testament proportions, Charlton were swept away on a tide of late goals scored by Bolton Wanderers, another of those clubs which has recently stared extinction in the face but survived.

This sixth defeat of the season – three of them already at home – leaves them clinging to a rock just two points above the bottom of League One but spared that ignominy by even more hapless Doncaster Rovers.

With the customary five changes from the side which shared a spirited draw with Portsmouth three days earlier, Charlton made a bright start, with Jonathan Leko a mobile threat to the visitors on the right flank. Two early crosses flew untouched across Joel Dixon’s goal before the winger’s third effort hit paydirt.

Played clear by Sean Clare, who alertly intercepted Alex Baptiste’s lazy pass out of defence, Leko’s hard, low centre was turned home by Josh Davison, repeating the impressive poacher’s instincts which salvaged a point against Pompey.

Buoyed by their early success, the Addicks were briefly – but all too briefly – in the ascendancy.

Surging over the halfway line, Akin Famewo picked out Corey Blackett-Taylor, whose fine crossfield ball was controlled and centred by Leko. Meeting the delivery first time, Elliot Lee’s half-volley flashed inches wide; his near thing was as close as Charlton came in a first half over which Bolton, while hardly dynamic themselves, began to exert a grip.

Former West Ham product Oladapo Afolayan was proving himself a nuisance on the left and went close after Adam Matthews carelessly surrendered possession to Antoni Sarcevic. His raking low drive was tipped around his left post by Craig MacGillivray but served as a useful sighter for a more deadly effort two minutes before the interval. This time he cut in from the left touchline as Matthews backed off and found the bottom right corner with unerring accuracy.

Charlton’s perplexing habit of allowing unhindered shots from middle distance had again proved their undoing. Afolayan’s fine goal had more than a passing resemblance to Portsmouth’s opener, scored by Ronan Curtis; totally different shots but enabled under almost identical circumstances.

And ominously, the Addicks had failed to reach the break with their lead intact, which had surely been a priority.

As the earlier menace provided by wingers Blackett-Taylor and Leko began to wane, the Trotters came into their own. Welsh international Gethin Jones turned inside from the right touchline to cross accurately with his left foot and Eion Doyle’s twisting header grazed a post.

It wasn’t all one-way, though, with Davison proving his longer-range credentials by clipping the woodwork from outside the penalty area.

It was a game still up for grabs but the smart money was on Ian Evatt’s men. Put it this way – it was no surprise that Wanderers, not the Addicks, claimed the 73rd minute goal which effectively sealed the issue.

At 33, Kieran Lee has circled the block more than once, primarily with Sheffield Wednesday, but still has a goal or two in him, specifically two on this occasion. Both efforts were aided by lucky deflections, his first stabbed in after Doyle’s shot was blocked and, with MacGillivray already committed, he was left the formality of finishing from point-blank range.

Lee had eight more minutes to wait before claiming his second -enough time for substitute Conor Washington to burst on to Matthews’ ball over the top, lob the advancing Dixon, but give vent to disappointment as his potential equaliser bounced a coat-of-paint’s width wide of the right post.

Washington’s close shave was the signal for Lee to remove any lingering doubt about the outcome by benefitting again from another fortuitous ricochet as Afolayan’s smothered shot arrived conveniently at his feet. He didn’t look this second gift horse in the mouth but tucked it away with practised ease.

Sarcevic had played a captain’s part in providing the nuts-and-bolts of Bolton’s perfect away performance and it was fitting that the final word was his. The game was deep into eight added minutes when he exchanged passes with Lee, nimbly rounded MacGillivray and planted a coup-de-grâce into an empty net.

“There’s a lot of disappointment around the whole stadium, it’s fair to say” was Nigel Adkins’ classic understatement when the dust of defeat had settled. “A football club the size of this shouldn’t be in the position we are at the moment, but the reality is we are.”

Too right we are, Nigel, that’s correctly identified the problem. What to do about it, there’s a more pressing problem. The solution beats most of us except to recommend you settle on your best team and stick with it.

STAR MAN
Josh Davison. Unstinting effort for 90 hard-working minutes.

BEST MOMENT
Davison’s predatory finish he produced after anticipating Jonathan Leko’s cross.

PICTURES: PA,, KEITH GILLARD AND KYLE ANDREWS