Charlton Athletic 0 v Sunderland 0 - EFL League 1

Saturday 19th March 2022

EFL League One

Charlton Athletic  (0) 0

Sunderland (0) 0

Attendance: 13,716 (inc. 2,702 away fans)

Charlton Athletic: 

MacGillivray, Lavelle, Pearce (C), Gunter; Jaiyesimi, Fraser (Gilbey 66), Dobson, Lee, Purrington; Burstow (Leko 73), Stockley

Unused subs - Harness, Famewo, Matthews, Morgan, John

Sunderland: 

Patterson, Winchester, Wright, Xhemajli, Cirkin; Matete, Evans (C); Gooch (Roberts 81), Pritchard (Embleton 75), Broadhead (Clarke 70); Stewart

Unused subs - Hoffmann, Doyle, Hume, Neil

If y'know, y'know ;-)

When these two sides met at the Stadium of Light earlier this season, the Addicks won what was Johnnie Jackson's first game as caretaker manager 0-1, thanks to Jayden Stockley's sixty-sixth minute headed goal.

Mathematically speaking, Charlton aren't yet in a watertight and failsafe position, as they strive to avoid sinking even closer towards the League One relegation quagmire.

Valley Floyd Road

But with the bottom six sides in the table all losing this afternoon, this hard earned point, borne out of resilient and dogged rear-guard action, against a very lively visiting Sunderland side, couldn't have come at a better time, especially following on, as it did, from an undesirable run of five consecutive defeats. 

The incoming arrival of several key players from disruptive injury lay-offs including the aforementioned Stockley, bodes well too, as Johnnie Jackson looks to steer his team to safety, secure in the knowledge that he'll probably still be in situ next term as he starts to plan for the season ahead now (time will tell, eh!?). He's been set a target of a top two finish next time around by the club owner Thomas Sandgaard, so no pressure there then.

The Jimmy Seed Stand - Mackems

Every journey starts with a single step and a professional performance and clean sheet against Alex Neil's promotion hopefuls (more likely than not via the play-offs given their recent patchy form), actually constitutes a lengthy stride in the right direction for Charlton.

That said, some profligate finishing and clumsy distribution by the Wearsiders in the final third did contribute in no small way to them taking on the guise of architects of their own downfall/

Did you ever wonder what it all
looks like from up on the roof?

But Charlton stuck rigidly to their game plan and reached the finishing line unscathed, much of the credit for which van be attributed to the hosts keeper: Craig MacGillivray, who out in a great shift today.

It was a backs to the wall and all hands to the pumps affair at times as the Addicks fought tooth and nail to repel the somewhat lackadaisical Black Cats, while resembling Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie waiting in vain for reinforcements to arrive.

FT: Charlton Athletic 0 v Sunderland 0