Chris Solly delighted as he nets his first Charlton Athletic goal in SIX years to earn last-gasp draw at Luton Town
BY LOUIS MENDEZ
Chris Solly’s notched his first goal in 2,184 days on Saturday to earn Charlton a late, late point at Luton Town.
The diminutive full-back hadn’t found the back of the net since October 2012, when he arrowed in a long-range strike to seal a Championship victory against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
The Addicks had taken a first-half lead at Kenilworth Road thanks to Tariqe Fosu’s penalty kick, but second-half goals from Harry Cornick and James Collins had the Hatters leading as the game entered its closing stages – only for Solly to have the final say.
“I think that takes my ratio from one in 135 to maybe one in 90 so it’s quite a big difference,” joked the one-club man.
“It comes around every six years, so I’m not sure you’ll see another one.
“It’s sat up nicely. We were trying to get the equaliser so I had squeezed right in. It’s just trying to get a good connection and keep the ball down. You see it so often where they go flying over the bar so I was just trying to get a good connection. I think on of their lads was trying to clear it but shanked it in. But I think it’s my goal. It was definitely on target.
“Before they got the first goal we felt quite comfortable. 1-0 up away from home, decent performance. Then we gave away two sloppy goals and then we’re chasing the game. We hit the bar twice. You start to think it’s not going to be our day but luckily, we got one more chance.
“These are a good side. Luton are a good team. Not many teams will come here and win. I saw their results beforehand, played four here and won there. Drew with Sunderland here. Not many teams will get points here. It’s a good point at the end of the day. Now we go to Tuesday, go to Scunny and try and get three points.”
Whilst Charlton’s four-game winning run was halted in Bedfordshire, the draw means the South Londoners are now unbeaten in six league games. Solly was pleased to see that momentum continuing.
“It’s massive. We came here for three points to get five in a row but if you can’t win, next best is to take the point and we go on to Tuesday [at Scunthorpe]. Get three points there and that gives us four points from the two games and you’re looking good.
“[Kenilworth Road is] a nice little stadium. When they got the first goal, all the fans are up. It’s really enclosed, you feel them really close to the pitch. So, they were really behind them. The boys stuck together, kept trying to get that equaliser. Like Bows has said in the dressing room, he can’t praise us enough for sticking together and the fight we’re showing as a team at the minute. With the run of results, it’s nice to stay unbeaten. We’ve got two more games before the international break, so we’ve got to keep that going for the next two.
“[Charlton fans] always travel in big numbers. They’re always massive for us. Coming to places like this, they out sung nine thousand of them massively. It was nice to give them a little reward at the end and send them home half happy and look forward to Tuesday.”