Five takeaways from Charlton’s 6-0 thrashing of Shrewsbury Town: A nice surprise for Addicks fans

Charlton handed out a 6-0 spanking to Shrewsbury Town on Saturday.

Here are Louis Mendez’s five takeaways from a remarkable match at The Valley.

SIX OF THE BEST

What a lovely surprise. Another game to file away with the likes of the 4-4 draw against Ipswich and the 5-1 win over Plymouth as matches that give fans something to cheer during another tough season.

A scrappy first half-hour was long forgotten as Charlton scored three times in 15 minutes before the break. Scott Fraser got the ball rolling with a fantastic free-kick – before Albie Morgan finished off a decent counterattack. Jes Rak-Sakyi’s sparkling third finished the game off as a contest just before the interval.

The Palace loanee re-established himself as Charlton’s out-and-out top scorer with that strike but Miles Leaburn was soon back on terms, before claiming the crown for himself with a quickfire brace. The first came thanks to a delicious, low long-range strike. The second from the spot following Tom Flanagan’s red card.

Macauley Bonne added the icing to the cake with his first goal in more than a year in added-time. It is the first time the Addicks have scored six in a league game at The Valley in 47 years.

ADDICKS INCONSISTENCY

A seventh home win of the campaign and a first since mid-January. That’s mid-table form, which coincidentally is where the Addicks continue to find themselves.

The South Londoners have scored three or more on eight occasions this season, bagging at least a fourth during five of those outings. The frustration that they aren’t anywhere near a side that can play that well more often than not is hard to take.

Games like yesterday are excellent reward for a fanbase who have suffered another mid-table slog in the third tier. But they need to be backed up and too often this season they haven’t been.

MORGAN HITS THE HEIGHTS

That was Albie Morgan at his very best. His goal was taken superbly. Nobody made more than the 53 passes he did during the match, boasting a passing accuracy of 85 per cent – including three accurate long passes. He made as many clearances as anyone else and only Luke Leahy touched the ball more than he did during the match.

The issue that needs sorting is that we’ve been here before. Morgan can show what he’s capable of but often only in fits and starts. Last season he started 21 league games for the Addicks – less than half of a 46-game campaign but the most he’s ever managed in one season. He’s only on 17 starts this year. If he could perform like he did yesterday every week then he’d be pushing for 35-plus starts a year.

It leaves Dean Holden with a big decision to make as Morgan is out of contract in the summer. The 23-year-old has to somehow prove that this is finally the real Albie Morgan blossoming and not another flash in the pan. Fingers crossed for him.

SEVEN MORE GAMES IN SE7 FOR JES

Enjoy him whilst it lasts. Jes Rak-Sakyi notched his 11th goal of the campaign in some style just before the break. Taking over midway through the Salop half, he slalomed through the penalty area before a nonchalant prod across goal and in at the far post.

It has been a superb first loan spell for the 20-year-old. The next step in his career will be an interesting one to keep an eye on – but surely won’t be back at The Valley.

Which poses a new challenge – replacing him. Despite the massive margin of victory yesterday, this is still a side that is mid-table in League One and will immediately be weakened by taking their 11-goal winger out of the side.

Tyreece Campbell has plenty of promise and will look to try and fill Rak-Sakyi’s shoes next season. But even if he does, Charlton are still a body down in the wide roles. Rak-Sakyi’s strike before half-time was a stroke of real quality yesterday – but a timely reminder that there will be plenty for Dean Holden and whoever owns the club to do rebuilding the squad in the summer.

GIVE HIM A FIVE-YEAR CONTRACT

I don’t normally stretch to five takeaways but there has to be a special mention for Tom Flanagan. The Shrewsbury defender must hate looking at the fixture list and seeing Charlton Athletic are next up.

The former Milton Keynes and Sunderland man has faced the Addicks eight times in his career – never winning any of them. He seems to run over a succession of black cats and walk under a tunnel of ladders before every fixture.

The 31-year-old’s foul led to the free-kick that saw Fraser break the deadlock yesterday, before he also conceded a penalty that delivered Leaburn’s second goal. That handball gained him a red card, the second he’s been shown at The Valley after being dismissed while playing for Sunderland in SE7 in October 2020.

During last season’s Sunderland v Charlton fixture at the Stadium of Light, Flanagan’s face was on the receiving end of a Jayden Stockley shoulder-barge/accidental headbutt that drew blood.

And the crème de la crème, who can forget it was Flanagan that could only deflect Patrick Bauer’s Wembley winner into his own net in the 94th minute of the League One play-off final in 2019. I think this geezer might be Charlton’s player of the century.

PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS