The lowdown on Huddersfield Town 2 Charlton Athletic 1 – Addicks slip to second consecutive defeat as skipper Greg Docherty is sent off in Yorkshire
Charlton’s winless run in League One extended to five as the 10-man Addicks were beaten at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Here is the lowdown on the match.
THE LINE-UPS
Huddersfield Town: Chapman, Lonwijk, Lees, Wiles, Pearson (Helik 32), Miller, Kane, Spencer (Turton 64), Kasumu, Koroma (Marshall 64), Healey (Radulovic 48). Subs not used: Maxwell, Hogg, Iorpenda.
Charlton Athletic: Maynard-Brewer, Gillesphey, A Mitchell, Edwards, Edmonds-Green (T Campbell 66), Small, Coventry, Docherty, Anderson (Berry 80), Leaburn (Hylton 80), Godden (Ahadme 74). Subs not used: Reid, A Campbell, Laqeretabua.
SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
The Addicks were off to the worst possible start as Matty Pearson shook off the feeble attention of Thierry Small to head a set-piece home before 15 minutes were on the clock. They were given a lifeline as Matty Godden bagged his fifth League One strike of the campaign from the spot following Brodie Spencer’s swipe at Rarmani Edmonds-Green 15 minutes or so later.
But any swing in momentum was immediately halted as Greg Docherty was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Town’s Nigel Lonwijk.
David Kasumu drove the hosts back in front just beyond the hour-mark with Charlton unable to rescue a point despite a handful of good chances late on.
TACTICAL APPROACH
Jones reverted to a 3-5-2 with Thierry Small operating as a right-sided wing-back and Rarmani Edmonds-Green amongst the three centre-halves. The Terriers were on top after the goal, but the Charlton boss didn’t immediately look to switch things up after falling behind. The dismissal of Docherty at 1-1 though saw Small shoehorned into the midfield and the Addicks shape-up with a back-four.
The South Londoners sat in behind the ball as expected after the break but did offer some forays forward to give Huddersfield some defending to do. But Town’s second goal forced Jones to try and introduce more threat into his depleted side as Tyreece Campbell returned from injury to replace Edmonds-Green.
Gassan Ahadme came into the fold for the final 15 minutes although his most telling contribution was missing an open-goal shortly after as he headed wide from a corner. Miles Leaburn soon limped off – Danny Hylton and Luke Berry were the last throw of the dice, but Charlton were unable to pilfer a leveller.
STAR MAN
Miles Leaburn. Had a few good touches at the start of the second-half and came close with a difficult headed chance.
BEST MOMENT
Greg Docherty’s red card. Charlton played better with 10 men.
MOAN OF THE MATCH
Another game where Charlton concede first- that’s five League One outings in a row. It seems to take going behind to get a real reaction from the Addicks at the moment.
A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB
The Addicks are now 15 games into the season, but they’ve just not shown enough to suggest they will be challengers this year. For what feels like the 1,000th consecutive season the hope is to try and hang onto the coattails of those pushing for the top six and reinforce in January. That gap is already seven points and will only widen if they continue to fail to win games.
But the success rate of the signings picked up this summer, particularly in midfield, will once again raise concerns about whether the Addicks still have the eye for the sort of player that will come in and improve the side enough. It feels like another long winter awaits.
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“[The red card] had a huge effect on the game. We weren’t able to be as aggressive or front-footed as we want but even with that, we created three or four good chances in the second-half that we should have scored. We had two point-blank headers we should have scored. We had a late chance.
“We had enough chances to have got something from the game even with 10 men. I’m proud of that second-half performance. But first-half, we have to defend the set-plays better.”