Four takeaways from Charlton Athletic’s 1-1 draw at Carlisle United: Addicks can’t make supremacy pay

Charlton were forced to settle for a point after surrendering a one-goal lead at Carlisle United. Here’s Louis Mendez’s four takeaways from the clash at Brunton Park.

SHOULD HAVE WON IT

A game that Charlton controlled for spells but didn’t kill off. Michael Appleton’s side dominated possession, largely in Carlisle territory, in the first half without creating enough to show for it.

Corey Blackett-Taylor rifled one off the crossbar and Scott Fraser was one of a number of Addicks players who saw strikes repelled relatively comfortably by the Cumbrians’ oversized goalkeeper Tomas Holy.

The hosts were limited to efforts from outside the area, barring when a Michael Hector mistake let Jordan Gibson in. Ashley Maynard-Brewer denied the Carlisle man from an angle.

But Charlton made their supremacy pay after the restart. Tennai Watson collected the ball from Alfie May ion the overlap, beating his man and squaring for Corey Blackett-Taylor to gobble up his seventh of the campaign.

Charlton had their relegation-threatened opponents on the ropes but failed to land a killer blow. That left them vulnerable to a counterpunch and that came from the boot of former teammate Sam Lavelle.

He took advantage of a gap in the Addicks penalty area and a ball into his path to grab his first goal for his new club.

The Addicks still looked the more likely to win it but Carlisle, buoyed by their recent takeover news, stuck to their task and held on for a point.

MAKING SUPREMACY COUNT

Charlton haven’t really struggled with goalscoring this campaign, but they were unusually toothless in Cumbria.

Only once this season have they really ran away with a game on the road and that was in the first half at Wigan where they bagged three.

The Addicks didn’t put Carlisle to the sword when they dominated possession of the ball in the first half and had a real headwind behind them after the opening goal.

They have shown a ruthless side at The Valley this season. Four-goal hauls against Reading and Exeter attest to that. But they struggle to impose themselves on the road in the way at promotion hopefuls need to.

PLAY OFF RACE

Which brings us to the race for the top six. Appleton’s side find themselves both seven points adrift of the top six and clear of the bottom four.

Whilst there are still 87 points up for grabs, Charlton’s run of just two wins from their last seven league games means they have to find another gear if they are serious about participating in the end of season shake up.

A decent point at Pompey and progression in two cup competitions have lifted the mood over the last few weeks but that has clouded the fact that they haven’t turned enough games into maximums.

Realistically, they’ll need to win about half their remaining 29 games to hit the average points required to hit the top six. And only lose between five and seven. That’s a big ask. But back to back wins in the next two league games against Cheltenham and Cambridge at The Valley could leave things feeling different.

CARLISLE TAKEOVER

Away from SE7, it was fascinating to see the jubilation that Carlisle’s new American owners were greeted with ahead of kick-off.

Florida-based logistics magnate Tom Piatak and his family form Castle Sports Group, the entity that took control of the Cumbrians this week.

They paraded across the Brunton Park pitch to an expectational reaction from the locals in scenes the travelling Charlton support may have found cute.

Been there, done that. Let’s hope the sales pitch those supporters have lapped up come to fruition more than any number of Addicks takeovers during the last decade.