Charlton Athletic 0-0 Fleetwood Town: Frustration reigns supreme at The Valley as play-off hopes are further dented

Charlton were held to a goalless draw as relegation-threatened Fleetwood Town dented the South Londoners’ play-off chances further.

The Addicks dominated possession throughout but were once again held back by poor decision making and finishing in the final third – and could even had been punished on the counter late on.

The visitors were happy to sit back and let Charlton have the ball in the first-period, as they set the home side the task of trying to break their organised defence down. Long-ranged efforts from Ben Reeves and Tariqe Fosu were both off the mark before the former dragged across the face of the goal on one of the few occasions an Addicks man found space in the Cod Army area.

Fosu also saw a shot blocked inside the area after some neat link-up play but the visitors otherwise frustrated their hosts – who were jeered from the field by sections of the sparse Valley crowd at the interval.

Reeves fired straight at Alex Cairns from the corner of the penalty area early on the second-period, but John Sheridan’s side started to show some more attacking intent as the half wore on and had two golden opportunities to open the scoring.

Ben Amos stood up well to deny Ashley Hunter as he burst through one on one, before Jack Sowerby’s follow-up was just wide, begging to be diverted home by a touch at the far-post.

Robinson switched to a 4-4-2 midway through the second-period, with substitutes Nicky Ajose and Michal Zryo leading the line. It would be the visitors who nearly nicked all three points though when former Addicks-loanee Connor McAleny side-footed just past the far-stick as the Addicks were caught short on the break.

The switch in formation didn’t have the desired effect for the home side, who failed to test Alex Cairns further. They may sit just five points shy of a place in the top six, with a game in hand – but they’ve shown very little recently to encourage the belief that they will be involved in the end of season shake-up.