Fulham loanee got ‘plenty of stick’ for reason he came off in Charlton’s victory over Port Vale

Charlton Athletic defender Steven Sessegnon came off with cramp in today’s 3-2 win over Port Vale but manager Dean Holden admitted he initially thought the Fulham loanee had suffered a major injury.

Sessegnon’s game time has been managed this season due to a knee problem.

And the left-back went down in clear distress, needing a sustained spell of treatment before being replaced by Todd Kane in the 85th minute.

“With Sess I was panicking,” said Holden. “I thought he had ruptured his hamstring. It was a little bit like when Chuks (Aneke) went down. When you do your hamstring it almost feels like you’ve had a shot to it – it just pops.

“But it’s just cramp, so he’s been getting plenty of stick in the dressing room! It wasn’t worth the risk. He said he’d had it for 10 minutes before, so that was a warning shot.

“There were 10-12 minutes to go plus I knew there were seven or eight minutes of stoppage time as well. It would have been ridiculous for him to carry on with the way the game was going and potentially risk him with injury.”

Right-back Sean Clare was forced off just before that.

He is out of contract at the end of the season, so it could potentially be his farewell appearance as a home player in SE7.

“It is that recurring ankle injury he picked up a few weeks ago,” said Holden. “He’s been playing with a little bit of swelling on there. It’s nothing too bad. It’s manageable. Then he took another knock to it, as he did the last time he came off.”

PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD