Charlton dumped out of EFL Cup at Newport – boss Dean Holden reacts and reveals up to SIX new fitness concerns
Charlton’s injury list is starting to grow after they were dumped out of the EFL Cup following a second half collapse at Newport County.
Daniel Kanu’s first half tap in saw the Addicks return to the dressing room with a slender lead. But goals from Aaron Wildig, Will Evans and Seb Palmer-Houlden – all of which followed defensive lapses – saw the South Londoners exit the competition in the first round.
The Addicks picked up three fresh injuries to further dampen boss Dean Holden’s mood – with three additional names revealed as absent for the trip to South Wales due to fitness reasons. Tyreece Campbell was seen leaving Rodney Parade in a protective boot, with Manny Egbo and Richard Chin also suffering knocks.
Scott Fraser took a heavy knock during the 1-0 win over Leyton Orient on Saturday – with Lloyd Jones and Nathan Asiimwe also missing and requiring assessment.
Holden explained: “[Fraser] wasn’t available for us tonight. Nathan Asiimwe the same, he picked something up. Lloyd Jones. We’ll take stock and see where we’re at.
“We lost [Richard] Chin early through injury, we lost Manny [Egbo] in the warm up. Tyreece [Campbell] suffered a kick to his ankle and rolled his ankle. We’ll have to see how that is over the next couple of days. We’ve gone from having just Miles [Leaburn] injured to picking up a few now.”
The Addicks reached the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup last season but were knocked out at the first time of asking this time around.
“We got ourselves into a good position with a goal before half-time,” Holden added.
“We had them where we wanted them, even up until 60-65 minutes, 1-0 up, complete control. Complete dominance but not enough in the final-third to take the game away from them. As comfortable as we were, there’s still too many basic errors in the game in terms of giving cheap possession away. Allowing the opportunities for a team who wants to sit deep against you and counter-attack. Very direct but we dealt with that with ease until that point.
“The first goal is a poor one to concede, completely out of the blue. We lost the ball in a dangerous area outside our box. Second one we end up in a bit of a muddle, header drops down on the edge of the box and too many people get dragged to the ball not marking in the box. Too easy for them to score. The third one, one of the boys slips and they’re in on goal.
“To go from where we were at 1-0 to lose the game 3-1 is really disappointing. Potentially a mentality issue there, where we need to stamp our authority on the game and go and take the game away from them. We didn’t do it and got punished.”
PHOTO: PAUL EDWARDS