Charlton 1 (Wagstaff 28) Leyton Orient 1 (Baudry 45) a.e.t. Leyton Orient won 4-3 on penalties.
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
A tortuously uphill Capital One Cup struggle with local rivals Leyton Orient, ending in penalty shoot-out defeat after extra time, was hardly the morale-boosting start to the season visualised by Charlton boss Chris Powell.
Cutting an increasingly frustrated figure as his side struggled to cope with their fired-up visitors, the Addicks’ normally ice-cool boss blew his top after disputing referee Gavin Ward’s decision that Cedric Evina had fouled substitute Michael Symes and was deported to the stands midway through the second half of normal time. When his penalty banker, skipper Johnnie Jackson, placed the first shoot-out spotkick too close to young goalkeeper Ryan Allsop, an incandescent Powell must surely have known that Charlton wouldn’t be featuring in the second round draw. New boy Lawrie Wilson was even more wasteful with his effort and although Ben Chorley provided brief hope by missing the East Londoners’ fourth penalty, teenager Ryan Brunt showed admirable composure to confirm Orient’s place in Round Two.
Facing 46 league games in a far tougher division than the one they sailed through last season, Powell shouldn’t experience too much difficulty in locating a silver lining to this particular cloud. In fact, his sleep will probably be dreamless. It’s his priority to consolidate Charlton’s place in the Championship and the distractions of a frequently re-branded Cup competition, with no tradition and less romance, won’t be missed.
Not that Charlton were sent out to lose, of course. Perish the thought. It’s just that they somehow find novel ways not to win every season. It’s a delicate balancing act they perform with practised ease. Not too long ago, they found themselves 3-0 up at Shewsbury but pulled it back to 4-3. That showed those conniving Spireites. No way were they allowed to dodge the second round.
A reasonably entertaining game was launched by French Algerian newcomer Salim Kerkar shooting wide after a determined solo run, before Charlton old boy Kevin Lisbie spun sharply to force Ben Hamer into a tumbling save at his right post. Hamer was less impressive in attempting to find right back Wilson but instead rolling a short free kick against Matt Taylor’s unwitting legs. Another Charlton alumnus, David Mooney, tried to find the empty net from 25 yards but missed the target.
An even encounter was rocking along when, after 28 minutes, the home side grabbed the lead. And though the goal was tinged with luck, it also featured the most sumptuous pass from promising left midfielder Jordan Cook, who used Cedric Evina’s decoy run to play Scott Wagstaff into space outside left back Gary Sawyer. Shooting crisply on the run for the far corner, Wagstaff’s effort would probably have been saved by Allsop but Sawyer’s desperate sliding block diverted the ball away from the diving keeper into the bottom near corner.
The lead might have been instantly doubled but Danny Green’s sidefooted drive sent Michael Smith’s clever set-up curling wide of the right post. Orient replied through Jimmy Smith, whose cute volley returned Leon Cort’s header inches off target, then went one better by equalising, not entirely unexpectedly, in first half added time.
As the Addicks came under steady pressure, Cort was hurried into conceding a right wing corner, which Sawyer swung in wickedly for French midfielder Mathieu Baudry to head unstoppably past a hesitant Hamer. It was no more than the visitors deserved.
Three minutes after the break, ironically as it turned out, Mooney was handed the chance to spare everyone the marathon which lay ahead. Needlessly tripped by Wilson near the left byline, the Irishman drove a penalty against Hamer’s crossbar. You just can’t help some people sometimes.
Green was proving an inconsistent handful and it was his left wing corner, following Allsop’s brave block on Danny Hollands, which soared across goal to rebound off the far post. Green’s luck was clearly out; his free kick, following Symes’ careless handball, beat a poorly positioned Allsop but smacked harmlessly against the left post. At the other end, Hamer saved smartly from Dean Cox and again from Brunt, who exploited Green’s lack of resolve to break clear but shot weakly, with Symes unmarked in space to his right.
Unwanted and unloved, extra-time wore relentlessly on, with Baudry chesting Cort’s header, from Jackson’s corner, off the line, then Evina doing the same to keep out Scott Cuthbert’s point-blank effort. This one was clearly heading for penalties and with Jackson and Bradley Wright-Phillips introduced for the final 15 minutes, the Addicks seemed in good shape for the dramatic denouement. And, depending on your point of view, how right (or wrong) we were!
Charlton: Hamer, Wilson, Cort, Taylor, Evina, Green, Hollands, Kerkar (Pritchard 100), Cook (Jackson 105), Wagstaff, Smith (Wright-Phillips 105). Not used: Sullivan, Morrison, Solly, Hayes.
Orient: Allsop, James, Cuthbert, Clarke (Chorley 96), Sawyer, Cox, Baudry, Griffith, Smith, Lisbie ( Brunt 83), Mooney ( Symes 64). Not used: McSweeney, Laird, Odubajo, Grainger.
Referee: Gavin Ward. Att: 5,914.
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