Charlton 0 Brentford 3 (Swift 27, Judge 55, Vibe 86).
Still shellshocked by their team’s total meltdown on Tuesday October 20th 2015 (“a date which will live in infamy”) Charlton’s fans turned up again four days later without a clue what to expect. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, that summed up the mood of nervous energy permeating the famous old ground.
There were rumours that manager Guy Luzon had arrived on a tumbril and talk of an old crone feverishly knitting just behind the home dugout. Totally untrue, of course. Luzon came by bus as usual and who bothers to knit these days? But Charlton’s Israeli boss, holder of this poisoned chalice for just nine months, was undeniably under unbearable pressure from a rarely glimpsed owner, who began his tenure by engineering the dismissal of a club icon for standing up to him regarding team selection and compounded his poor judgement by appointing a trio of in-house caretakers, all of whom proved dispensable the minute the going got tough. You need a thick skin, not to mention a cast-iron contract, before giving even a thought to managing this increasingly risible football club.
Luzon, we were told, was safe from the sack. We had the word of no less than the club’s CEO, Katrien Meire, for that. Her classic vote of confidence removed any semblance of doubt. The gaffer was here for the long haul and when he showed up in the press room for a post-match debriefing, following this second 3-0 home defeat of the week, nothing in his demeanour suggested he was already “down the road”. Elsewhere in The Valley, however, his fate was being sealed. Funny how the word gets around and the usual suspects gather like vultures. You’ll probably wince to realise that Ian Holloway is available, though the seriously compromised Malky Mackay apparently has the inside track.
There was, meanwhile, a game to be played at The Valley and for 10 minutes, Luzon’s players performed as if determined to save their guvnor’s neck. No fewer than four chances were created before Brentford had settled to their task, with the mercurial Tony Watt involved in each of them.
After just four minutes, Watt spun clear of Jake Bidwell on the right, made ground and swept in a low, accurate centre. Simon Makienok’s clumsy challenge helped the ball squirt to Franck Moussa who, from 10 yards, drove disastrously wide. Charlton’s best chance of an ill-fated afternoon had been carelessly squandered. The tricky Scot then crossed dangerously from the left but Makienok failed by a whisker to make contact at the far post.
Briefly on fire, Watt came again and set up Johann Berg Gudmundsson to test Button with a potent drive, which the ex-Charlton keeper unconvincingly parried. Gudmundsson returned the favour after heading back Button’s poor clearance but Watt’s low crosshot missed the far post by inches. And that was the Addicks’ bolt all but shot as the Bees pulled themselves together.
Kaleidoscopic interpassing and interchanging between diminutive midfielders Ryan Woods and the hugely gifted Alan Judge began to give the Addicks an exhausting runaround, with old stager Alan McCormack prompting his young tyros from a position in the centre circle. Nothing in a forgettable spell with Charlton warned us that the Irishman could be this good. His long range drive fizzed narrowly over the bar before Stephen Henderson saved smartly from John Swift.
A fierce shot from Moussa forced an excellent save from Button but proved to be Charlton’s last hurrah. A minute later, Judge’s wonderful cross from the right was headed powerfully past Henderson by Swift. McCormack immediately threatened to double the Bees’ advantage with a 30-yard cannonball which rattled the underside of the bar.
Generously applauded on their way to half-time refreshments, the Addicks were virtually finished off ten minutes after the break. Launching a lightning counter-attack from deep inside their own half, the visitors’ break-out was led by Judge, who exchanged passes with McCormack down the left, stepped inside on to his right foot and bent a beauty beyond Henderson into the far corner. In a week of fine goals at The Valley, lamentably none of which was scored by the home side, this one holds its own.
A Dublin midfielder in the playmaking mould of Andy Reid and Wes Hoolahan, Judge proceeded to crown an outstanding contribution with a contender for pass of the season. From just inside the right touchline, his soaring delivery cleared Chris Solly’s head on its way to Lasse Vibe on the opposite flank. The late substitute’s first touch set up a low drive through Solly’s legs, which beat a possibly unsighted Henderson at his near post. Abruptly, a resigned but generally well behaved Valley emptied. Sorely tried, the fans had had more than enough.
All that remained was the ritual humiliation of Guy Luzon, who was allowed to conduct his post-game press interview while his downfall was being plotted behind his back. Some club this is turning out to be, with its drippy fans’ sofa, its childish mascots and its cavalier treatment of a succession of managers. A family club? Try telling that to Chris Powell. He was the nearest we got to a father figure. And what happened to him was nothing short of patricide.
Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Bauer, Sarr, Fox, Cousins, Jackson, Gudmundsson, Moussa (McAleny 60), Makienok (Ghoochannejhad 76), Watt (Ahearne-Grant 76). Not used: Pope, Holmes-Dennis, Bergdich, Ba. Booked: McAleny.
Brentford: Button, Dean, Tarkowski, Yennaris, Bidwell, Djuricin (Vibe 73), McCormack (Canos 89), Woods, Judge, Diagouraga, Swift (Kerschbaumer 62). Not used: Bonham, Hoffman, O’Connell, Gogia.
Referee: Stuart Attwell.
Spot on.
Thanks.