Derby County 3 (Ward 7,64 pen, Bryson 53) Charlton 2 (Green 70, Kermorgant 73).
Kevin Nolan reports from Pride Park.
Reduced to familiar desperation and shameless timewasting, Derby County became the latest of Charlton’s conquerors to greet the final whistle with the relief shared by the survivors of Rorke’s Drift. Okay, this wasn’t as important but you get the Drift.
At the City Ground recently, Nottm Forest dramatically degenerated into a haggard shadow of a side that had effortlessly dominated all but 15 minutes of a one-sided game. To a lesser extent at The Valley last Friday, Crystal Palace, though clearly the better team, were grateful for a last-ditch goalline clearance, not to mention a wrongly disallowed “goal”, in protecting their hard-won advantage.
The point is, of course that although both Forest and Palace buckled under late pressure, they had already done enough to win. So too did Derby County, who clung on to a 3-0 lead, generously donated to them by their victims. It becomes essential for Charlton to make these plucky rallies unnecessary by simply getting about their business earlier. Their early passivity must give way to a more up-and-at-’em spirit from the off. Otherwise, a long gruelling season looms before them. As, actually, it already does.
It hardly needs pointing out that the Addicks must also address the chaotic defending which practically gift-wrapped victory for County. The opener, crisply volleyed by Jamie Ward in the 7th minute, can probably be excused, though Michael Morrison’s clearing header lacked power and direction. The second half goals, however, were criminal acts.
Ward’s strike should have been promptly doubled but Connor Sammon, slipped through cleverly by Craig Bryson, haplessly shovelled his shot over the bar. The irrepressible Ward then linked intelligently with Will Hughes before hitting the sidenet from an acute angle. The visitors’ listlessness, meanwhile, lifted briefly when Gareth Roberts hacked Johnnie Jackson’s netbound header off the line.
With dreary predictability, Charlton’s already bleak prospects nosedived beyond redemption early in the second half. Two further goals, both of them comically donated to the Pride Park cause, made their plight hopeless. Not completely hopeless, as it turned out, but pretty grim.
The first of them was a disaster for Dale Stephens, the main object of speculation during August’s transfer window. A proposed transfer to Aston Villa, whose manager Paul Lambert astutely nurtures lower league talent, promised to cap a meteoric rise for the former Bury midfielder. But the move fell through amid rumours that Charlton’s hardball bluff had been called by Villa. Left out of the Forest fixture to recover from his disappointment, Stephens has cut a distracted, detached figure since the controversy.
Frequently guilty of giving the ball away on Tuesday evening, Stephens capped – if that’s not an ill-chosen word- an absentminded contribution with an errant backpass, pounced on by Sammon but alertly blocked by Ben Hamer. Picking up the loose ball, Hughes set up Bryson for a scruffy finish at the far post.
Restored to the line-up in favour of the overwhelmed Brady Pritchard, meanwhile, Danny Green is another enigmatic performer with a point to prove. His clumsy challenge on Ward, while covering Lawrie Wilson inside the area, wasn’t an ideal way to go about it and was rightly ruled illegal by on-the-spot referee David Phillips. Ward’s successful penalty seemed no more than a coup-de-grace at the time but, as the late drama unfolded, proved to be the winner, though not before Green proceeded from villain to hero in turning this one-sided game on its head.
The suddenly irresistible winger delivered an opening shot across County’s bows with an expertly delivered cross, which Yann Kermorgant twisted to head narrowly over the bar. But the goal that reduced Charlton’s arrears was something special.
With a reputation for explosive, long distance shooting, Green provided hard evidence by accepting Stephens’ routine pass, advancing into range, then detonating an unstoppable 30-yarder into the far left corner. His spectacular strike galvanised the Addicks and inspired Green to terrorise the suddenly rocky home defence. Making mincemeat of its cover, he burst to the right byline and speared a low cross to the near post, where Kermorgant capably sidefooted home.
Abruptly, the Rams’ superiority was exposed as bogus. Panic paralysed them, as their erstwhile victims set about them. They were clinging on like drunks to a gatepost by the time substitute Salim Kerkar directed Green’s last gasp corner goalward but Charlton’s frustration was exacerbated by right back John Brayford, who was tactically positioned under the bar to clear.
Now ensconced in the bottom three, Charlton have been served notice that this tough Championship campaign bears little resemblance to the league, through which they marched triumphantly last season. The fightback starts now. At fellow strugglers Ipswich on Saturday. It might be still September but that’s a relegation six-pointer. And you’re in trouble until you get out of it.
Derby: Fielding, Brayford, Keogh, O’Connor (Buxton 82), Roberts, Coutts, Bryson, Hendrick (Robinson 89), Hughes, Ward, Sammon. Not used: Jacobs, Legzdins, Doyle, Gjokaj, Freeman. Booked: Bryson, O’Connor.
Charlton: Hamer, Wilson, Cort, Morrison, Solly, Green, Stephens, Hollands (Kerkar 60), Jackson, Wright-Phillips (Fuller 60), Kermorgant. Not used: Button, Evina, Pritchard, Smith, Dervite. Booked: Stephens.
Att: 20,063. Referee: David Phillips.
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