Alan Curbishley stunned at quality of opposition’s goals at Charlton Athletic + gives verdict on goals conceded

Alan Curbishley reckons that Charlton Athletic have been on the receiving end of a succession of Goal of the Season contenders at The Valley.

Gillingham left-back Connor Ogilvie produced an outstanding first-time left footed volley from the edge of the box to put them 2-1 ahead on Saturday.

And the Kent outfit’s winner came through a thumping finish by captain Kyle Dempsey.

Olly Lee, the son of former Charlton midfielder Robert, opened the scoring after just 31 seconds – he curled home with pinpoint precision after Deji Oshilaja’s clearing header fell nicely for John Akinde.

The Addicks have taken 16 points from 13 home league fixtures.

Former Charlton manager Curbishley told Valley Pass: “The home form is a problem. If you want to get top six, or even top two, your home form is imperative. The away form is good enough, just got to turn it around here.

“It is killing us at the moment.

“We were calling for a fast start, we’ve been behind so many times here. And we concede after 30 seconds and we’re chasing the game again.

“It’s a really good goal. Good finish. Could we get a bit closer to him? It’s the pace of the shot that has done for Ben Amos.

“If you look at the game overall it is three points dropped – not that we were holding on for one. Liam Millar, particularly in that opening 20 minutes, was really dangerous. He did look lively in the first half.

“It’s another wonder goal [by Ogilvie]. How many of them have gone past Ben Amos here? I’ve lost count. Can Pratley get there and put his body on the line? Perhaps – he normally does. But what a finish. The keeper has no chance. We’ve seen a good six or seven goals at The Valley that are wonderstrikes – and that’s another one.

“If you’re going to pick the top five goals at The Valley, they will probably all be the opposition.

“You can’t ask for much more than your two centre-forwards to score and we’re back in the game.

“We ended up with two widemen at the end. Let’s give Gillingham some credit, they worked hard to try and stop the crosses coming in. But at 2-2 you only thought there was going to be one winner.”

Charlton manager Lee Bowyer claimed afterwards that the Gills bench had helped intimidate referee Kevin Johnson into issuing two quick-fire bookings to Chuks Aneke, who will miss Saturday’s trip to Fleetwood.

Curbishley said: “Because of the lack of crowd here you can hear the managers and staff. There was edge here, it’s just a pity there was no crowd. There were some challenges and a lot of noise out there and coming from their dugout. Perhaps it might have influenced him [Johnson], it might have.

“Going down to 10 men was a big hit. The ref was there on both occasions. He had a better view than us.

“The first challenge, there is no need for it. He can’t win the ball.”

Curbishley also felt Dempsey’s goal could have been averted with Ben Purrington and Liam Millar both not blocking his progress into the right of the box.

“[Jason] Pearce has got to be telling him [Purrington] ‘down the line, down the line’. There’s got to be some form of communication. Instead you are backing each other up and it’s another good finish.

“Once they started backing off and he got into the box you can’t dangle a leg. But there were two of them there and communication between the two of them could have seen it out.”

PICTURES: PAUL EDWARDS + PA