The lowdown on Cambridge United 0 Charlton Athletic 1 – Addicks keep pressure on with rugged win at the Abbey
Charlton scrapped their way to an important three points at the Abbey Stadium.
Here is the lowdown on the match.
THE LINE-UPS
Cambridge United: Stevens, Bennett, Morrison, Watts, Gibbons (Andrew 73), Malone (Kachunga 65), Brophy (Njoku 88), Stokes, Stevenson, Loft (Kaikai 74), Ballard. Subs not used: Briggs, Hoddle, Longelo.
Charlton Athletic: Mannion, Ramsay, Gillesphey, McIntyre, Edwards, Coventry, Campbell (Anderson 58), Berry (Aneke 58), Docherty, Small (Watson 74), Godden (Mbick 88). Subs not used: Bouzanis, Ahadme, Gilbert.
SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
A dog of a game that Tyreece Campbell settled early on. His fourth goal in three games, he cut in from the left and fizzed a shot across goal that snuck in at the far-post. Matty Godden hit the post soon after, but the game descended into more of a hand-to-hand conflict than a football match. There was next to no quality on show in the second half but Charlton wrestled their way to another significant 1-0 win on the road.
TACTICAL APPROACH
Campbell’s inclusion from the start may have caught a few by surprise with the forward missing last weekend’s draw with Lincoln. His reappearance in place of Karoy Anderson the only change that Nathan Jones made.
The Amber Army, guided by former Millwall boss Neil Harris, weren’t afraid to add a physical edge to the game and certainly seemed to direct a lot of that edge at Campbell’s ankles. Whilst not quite John Beck-esque, both sides were happy to go long when required to bypass a pitch rougher than a badger’s backside.
The Addicks certainly had to play their part in the physicality and Jones introduced the tireless Karoy Anderson from the bench as well as Chuks Aneke on the hour-mark to up the ante in that department. Tennai Watson came on with 15 minutes left to play in place of Theirry Small as he looked to counter the threat from James Brophy down the U’s left. And Micah Mbick got his first minutes of the campaign in the closing stages – making two or three important darts up the field with the ball to ease the pressure as Charlton saw it out.
STAR MAN
Macaulay Gillesphey. Won some important headers as the Addicks battened down the hatches and made 14 clearances – one more than Tom McIntyre who also played well.
BEST MOMENT
The final whistle. The release of victorious joy when James Durkin put that whistle to his lips was matched only by relief conveyed because that fetid game of football had concluded.
MOAN OF THE MATCH
Cambridge’s targeting of Tyreece Campbell crossed the line so much it crossed it again on their second way around after traversing the planet. The Charlton man spent large spells of the game limping with a dead leg. He still managed to score the winner though, so he enjoyed the last chuckle.
A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB
With a 10 point cushion above seventh-placed Leyton Orient and just 12 left to play for, it would take something catastrophic for Charlton to drop out of the end of season play-offs now.
Seventy-five points is the average needed to finish in that top six and Charlton have surpassed that with four games to go. The slim, but still not zero, chance of pipping Wrexham, Wycombe Wanderers and Stockport County and climbing into the top two still focusses minds but a moment should be spared to celebrate the achievement of Nathan Jones and his side.
They’ve averaged 2.15 points over a 25-game spell in which they’ve only been beaten three times – winning an almost incomprehensible 16. Whether free-flowing or gritty, they’ve found different ways to come out on top in games that were missing in the early part of the campaign.
Whilst there may be a nagging frustration that the run didn’t start just a couple of weeks earlier to really give hopes of a top two finish life, it really had been an amazing turn of fortunes. The play-offs are conquered by sides who know how to win games and Nathan Jones’ Charlton Athletic are a shining example of one of those.
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“It’s a massive three points. This is a really, really tough place to come.
“Firstly, they’re fighting for their lives. Secondly, they’re a Neil Harris’ side, they’ll be front-footed and very difficult to beat. And then the conditions were really difficult for a good footballing game. The pitch is dry and bobbly. It’s the slope, there’s wind. Everything that can go against a spectacle is here at the Abbey Stadium.
“We’ve had to do all the basics really well today, apart from a little scramble right at the end. I thought we were relatively comfortable, but we had to defend well.”
PICTURES: KYLE ANDREWS