Four takeaways from Charlton’s FA Cup win over Havant & Waterlooville: Floodgates finally opened and Paul Doswell’s crowd control
It took a while but Charlton finally found a way through National League South outfit Havant & Waterlooville with four goals inside the final 18 minutes. Johnnie Jackson made nine changes ahead of the game and goals from Josh Davison, Jayden Stockley (rwo) and Mason Burstow were enough to secure a passage to round two of the FA Cup. Here’s Louis Mendez’s four takeaways.
HEAVY WEATHER
What a relief. I think most inside in The Valley of an Addicks persuasion would have taken a 1-0 win with 20 minutes left on the clock so to go on and score four was a real bonus. The non-league Hawks sat in well and were tough to break down – although it’s fair to say Charlton weren’t at their fluid best in the first-half. The floodgates opened once Josh Davison had broken the deadlock 18 minutes from time and with an unwanted and potentially dicey replay edging over the horizon. But the Addicks had kept going, added some gloss to the scoreline and made it 4-0 home wins on consecutive weekends.
MAGIC OF THE CUP WEARING OFF
Havant boss Paul Doswell said he was “stunned” by the “terrible” crowd who witnessed this afternoon’s cup tie. A throng of 3,865 were in attendance and Doswell said he had hoped for a 10,000-strong crowd to help boost the Hawks’ finances. While anyone familiar with the Addicks’ traditional cup turnout would have known that was somewhat over-optimistic, it is a shame that the FA Cup doesn’t hold the pull over supporters that it once did. But either way, the reality is that this was one of the biggest games of the season for the Hawks and the only reason it isn’t one of the least attractive ties for the Addicks this year is because they’re still in the EFL Trophy.
HE’S BURSTOW-ED ON TO THE SCENE
Young forward Mason Burstow once again came off the bench to score – the second time he’s done that in two games at the start of his Charlton career. Those two goals in 13 minutes would equate to an impressive 637 in one campaign if he was an ever-present over a 46-game season. Johnnie Jackson highlighted afterwards the “bags of potential” that Burstow has and from what we’ve seen so far he’s certainly going to be one to keep an eye on.
ALBIE MORE-GAN PLEASE
We’re still waiting for Albie Morgan’s season to really kick off. I hoped that today’s cup tie would be the catalyst for that but it didn’t really happen for the young midfielder. It feels like he’s been around forever as he first joined the squad so young but other than flashes here and there, we’re not getting a consistent performance level that he should be capable of. He’s got bags of ability on the ball but I do wonder if he needs a proper loan spell where he can play week in, week out and not be left to rely on picking up the odd game here and there.
PHOTOS: KYLE ANDREWS