Tuesday December 10th 2024
EFL (Vertu) Trophy - Round of 32
At The Valley
Charlton Athletic (0) 0
Leyton Orient (0) 2
Charlie Kelman 90+3,
Dan Agyei 90+5
Attendance: 1,336 (inc. 328 away fans)
Charlton Athletic:
Maynard-Brewer, Laqeretabua, Edmonds-Green, Potts (Gillesphey 79), Dixon (T.Campbell 59), Docherty (C) (A.Campbell 73) , Berry (Taylor 73), Edun, Small; Leaburn, Godden (Kanu 73)
Unused subs - Asiimwe, Hylton
Leyton Orient:
Hemming, Simpson, Cooper, Currie, Donley, Pratley (c) (Brown 76), Perkins (Agyei 76), Galbraith, Kelman, Jaiyesimi (O’Neill 77), Obiero
Unused subs - Phillips, Sweeney, Warrington, Beckles
And to think, the Valley faithful were under the impression that the home defeat against Crawley Town last week was a complete shit show (it was, by the way).
Well, b, b, b, baby, you just ain't seen n, n, n, nothing yet!
The dominant visitors racked up an impressive total of twenty-six attempts on the beleaguered Addicks goal, but had to wait until the 93rd and 95th minute until Charlie Kelman and Dan Agyei finally put the game to bed and avoided the need to settle the game via means of the penalty shoot-out that appeared to be imminent.
Aussie Keeper (though he was actually born in Dunstable) Ashley Maynard-Brewer, has been turning in some decent performances for Charlton of late and was one of very few of the hosts players to emerge from this below-par outing with any kind of credit tonight.
In actual fact, at times it was only the custodians tenacity that had kept Richie Wellens' side at bay until their late, late show in stoppage time.
Nathan Jones made nine changes to the side that had ground out a goalless draw at Lincoln City on Saturday, but the O's similarly kicked off tonight with just two of the starting line-up from the weekend's win at Wigan Athletic, as they ultimately took the game to their Valley hosts and emerged with a much deserved fourth win on the bounce.
Jones handed a first start to the young Jamaican international Kaheim Dixon, who appears to be the next star of the future to emerge from the club's much renowned and highly impressive Sparrows Lane production line.
Alas that fertile crop of youthful hopefuls no longer turn out in the red of Charlton while competing in the game's upper echelons, like they would've done in the not-so-distant past.
Instead, strut their stuff elsewhere at clubs vying at a higher level and even on the international stage too. Two current England players Ezri Konsa and Joe Gomez both graduated from the Charlton Academy. So now you know, eh!?
Dixon's debut has been eagerly awaited among the Addicks fan base. He will have picked up some much-needed valuable experience tonight from the sixty minutes he was afforded, inasmuch as: he made all of the right runs and will have taken on board when to execute and when to anticipate those runs just a fraction later/sooner to utilise his talents bettter.
Not that you could say much more about his overall input tonight given the abundance of the stray passes and mishit crosses that were aimed in his (sort of) general direction, instead of actually to him, or even into his path so he could run onto the ball and show what he is obviously capable of.
Charlton were very poor and deserved nothing from this game, whereas Orient were on the front foot pretty much from the off and seemed to want it more. Good for them.
The Addicks can take some minuscule kind of consolation from this result, but only because there were no actual league points at stake because that is where they really need to kick-start their season pronto.
If Nathan Jones charges are anywhere near as awful as they were on this grim night in front of barely 1,000+ Addicks fans who could be bothered to turn out, it could be a fruitful afternoon in the capital for the Nottinghamshire side.
FT; Charlton Athletic 0 v Leyton Orient 2
