Saturday 13th August 2022
EFL League 1
At Hillsborough Stadium
Sheffield Wednesday (0) 1
Tyreeq Bakinson 81
Charlton Athletic (0) 0
Attendance: 22,363
Sheffield Wednesday:
Stockdale, Ihiekwe, Heneghan, Palmer, Hunt (James 73), Bannan (C) (Sow 80), Vaulks (Byers 58), Dele-Bashiru (Bakinson 59), Johnson, Paterson (Gregory 58), Windass
Unused subs - Dawson, Iorfa
Charlton Athletic:
Wollacott, Clare, Inniss, O'Connell, Sessegnon (Clayden 82), Fraser (McGrandles 82), Dobson, Morgan, Blackett-Taylor (Jaiyesimi 72), Stockley (C) (Leaburn 62), Kirk ((Payne 63)
Unused subs - MacGillivray, Lavelle
Prior to this afternoon, these two teams were unbeaten in League 1 so far this term, having both drawn on the opening day of the season and won last weekend.
Similarly, they had both enjoyed midweek home wins against Championship sides in the League Cup, with Wednesday comfortably seeing off Sunderland 2-0, while the Addicks beat QPR on penalties after their game had finished 1-1 after ninety minutes.
Charlton were second best by quite a long way, the last time they played at Hillsborough, when it had seemed, for long periods of the game, that they had only travelled to south Yorkshire to make the numbers up.
That game had been largely orchestrated by one Barry Bannan, Today he glanced an early opportunity wide of the target and then appeared to wilt in the heat while never really getting to grips with the job in hand at all.
In fact, it was the Addicks who had far more of the ball, moving it around well and taking the game to their hosts. The Owls manager Darren Moore himself spoke of how well Charlton had played after the game giving credit where it was due, the presenter covering the game for BBC Radio Sheffield called the visitors the better team and the reporter who was there for the Football League Paper awarded the Owls keeper: David Stockdale, with the man of the match award... all of which suggests that a clipped but accurate overview of events at Hillsborough would have been: "The Londoners had the best of the few chances created overall and may well feel the defeat was undeserved". But don't take my word for it, that is an actual quote from the in-house Sheffield Wednesday media guy and was lifted from his match report on their website.
Charlton needed a little more bite (and luck) in the final third, in front of the Owls goal and they would've built up a decent lead before the break. It transpired later in the day that the Addicks captain and number 9: Jayden Stockley (who was substituted around the hour mark) had played despite being unwell, which must've been a real struggle for him on such a scorching hot afternoon. But it won't have gone unnoticed among the travelling Addicks fans in the upper tier of the Leppings Lane End, that Conor Washington, a player that Charlton released at the end of last season, was amongst the goal scorers just six miles up t'road at Rotherham, where the Millers were building up a four goal lead, before half-time against Paul Ince's Reading.
Albie Morgan went close to breaking the deadlock, but Stockdale did well to deny him. While Scott Fraser and Steven Sessegnon both shot narrowly wide of the target in front of the home team's towering Kop End.
With half-time approaching, Morgan hurdled over a clumsy tackle by Bannan and set the ball rolling for an assault on the Wednesday area, a defensive mix-up allowed Corey Blackett-Taylor a clear sight of goal, with Stockdale stranded off of his line, but Liam Palmer (the home team's best player today) was well placed to make a last ditch clearance.
The visitors had silenced the home crowd, who were well aware of the fact that they were being dominated by Ben Garner's side who were coping with the heat far better than their illustrious hosts. The Charlton fans taunted the home supporters, with the strains of: "Where's your famous atmosphere!?", before adding for good measure: "Just like London... your city is red!"
The Addicks were warmly applauded off of the pitch at half-time, even though the away support were wary of the old adage that football has this nasty habit off digging it's teeth into your buttocks, if you don't take full advantage of your chances while you're in the ascendancy.
Josh Windass was trying to get Wednesday moving forward, while Blackett-Taylor was continuing to toy with the hosts defence to good effect, but Stockdale was standing firm.
Darren Moore made a triple substitution in an effort to jump-start his struggling team and his intervention gave Wednesday fresh impetus and evened the game up as a contest.
Bannan was also taken off with ten minutes remaining, by which time I'd forgotten that he was even still on the pitch, given his uncharacteristic anonymity.
Within sixty-seconds of his long overdue departure, the Owls pressed forward in the middle of the pitch and the ball was fed to Windass, outon the right, whose first touch delivery dipped wickedly in front of Joe Wollacott's goal, where Tyreeq Bakinson met the ball with a pinpoint header. One-nil.
All of the match-stats, apart from the one that really matters, were stacked in Charlton's favour, but Wednesday had found a way to smash and grab the three points and won't be unduly troubled by any of that peripheral stuff.
Windass combined with Sylla Sow (Bannan's replacement) twice, late in the game, as the home side looked to rub salt into the wounds of their deflated opponents, but Wednesday had already used up their entire allocation of good luck for the afternoon and had to settle for a jammy one-nil win in the end.
FT: Sheffield Wednesday 1 v Charlton Athletic 0
Me personally, I'm glumly skimming through my emails about rescheduled and/or non-existent midweek train services over the next few days, that I've already purchased tickets for and booked time from work off for... and plotting the complex logistics of travelling during the next phase of cancellations, while the train companies pay scant to their own existing timetables.
For purposes of clarification, the numerous disruptions to services are all happening on non-strike days.
At least the rail unions advertise when they will be taking action weeks in advance, instead of ruining people's plans at the eleventh hour, time and time and time again.
