Charlton 5 (Jackson 40,45, Stephens 54, Haynes 60, Hulse 65) Cardiff City 4 (Helguson 4, Mason 24, Noone 90, Gunarrsson 90).
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
Urged on by a fanatically loyal crowd, Charlton destroyed league leaders Cardiff City with a five-goal salvo within 25 irresistible minutes straddling half-time, reacted negatively to six baffling minutes of added time and ended up clinging, like eleven shipwrecked survivors, to a single lifebelt. The tension was unbearable as City’s Peter Whittingham lined up a last gasp free kick but a defensive boot directed the ball in the general direction of Woolwich and a famous victory was secured. To his credit, careworn Chris Powell managed an impressive line in feigned nonchalance as he made his way down the touchline in search of sanctuary. The rest of us looked forward to a nice lie-down in a darkened room.
Following Saturday’s caning by Middlesbrough, it was hardly recommended that the Addicks should fall behind as early as the fourth minute. Again their vulnerability to setpieces was their undoing as Heidar Helguson lost his marker (Johnnie Jackson might have been the culprit) at the near post to glance Peter Whittingham’s inswinging corner beyond Ben Hamer’s reach.
With almost eerie defiance, the North Stand increased their volume of support, wavering only slightly when City, playing in unfamiliar blue shirts, doubled their lead. Another Whittingham corner from the left was flicked on by Mark Hudson, looped against the bar by Ben Turner, clawed clear by Hamer but drilled home from 10 yards by Joe Mason. The Bluebirds or Red Dragons, as their tradition-ignorant owners now call them, were doing as they pleased and, briefly, they showed why they topped the league. Their Achilles heel is, of course, an away record which is inferior to Charlton’s; 21 of their 28 points to date have been collected in seven perfect home games. They soon demonstrated why.
Five minutes before the break, Charlton were back in the hunt. An enthusiastic up-and-under from emergency right back Michael Morrison was dropped by David Marshall under scrupulously fair pressure from Rob Hulse. The loose ball was toed back to Jackson by Salim Kerkar and, from 15 yards, the skipper belted a no-nonsense drive into the top right corner.
Relieved no doubt to be factoring a vital goal into his half-time Henry V oration, Powell could scarcely contain his glee as Jackson doubled his- and Charlton’s- tally during stoppage time. The visitors seemed to have escaped unscathed with Turner clearing off the line after Hulse rounded Marshall but the Welshmen’s own vulnerability to dead ball deliveries was cruelly exposed. Jackson met Kerkar’s left wing corner with a firm header inside the left post. The din behind the far goal was deafening.
Hitting a freewheeling stride, the Addicks made mincemeat of Malky Mackay’s men after the break, though their third goal was attended by the kind of luck which has conspicuously eluded them this season. Matthew Connolly’s crude foul on Chris Solly near the left touchline set up a freekick, which the outstanding Stephens dispatched over a desperately backpedalling Marshall on its unerring way into the far top corner. The back-in-form Stephens disappeared under a man- mountain of delirious teammates.
The best-and belatedly worst- was still to come. Having troubled the visitors with his pace, Danny Haynes celebrated his return from injury with an important goal. The speedster was stumbling as Bradley Pritchard’s clipped cross from the right byline arrived but contrived to cleverly head the ball back across Marshall and in off the keeper’s flailing left hand.
The Red Dragons’ fire was all but out as Hulse added a fifth five minutes later. Moving unmolested on to Kerkar’s teasing centre from the left touchline, the hardworking striker crowned an selfless contribution by heading easily past the shellshocked Marshall. It seemed all over, of course, an impression clearly shared by more than a few furtive deserters from the away end. They never learn. On this occasion they missed the unlikely sting in the Dragons’ tail which almost produced a storybook ending.
Deflated and wearied by the mysterious addition of six minutes, Charlton wilted visibly. There were still five of those minutes available when left-footed wide right midfielder Craig Noone, mostly subdued and driven infield by the consistent Solly, slipped through the middle, eluded Hamer, crossed the goalline with the ball, then fished it out of the net en route to an undelayed kick-off.
Going down like ninepins with cramp by this time, the increasingly beleaguered homeboys were now all over the place and it was no surprise that fresh substitute Aron Gunnarsson sorted out a penalty area mess by drilling the ninth goal of a riotous evening through a mass of struggling bodies. And it was just as inevitable that Charlton would be required to resist the last gasp free kick, conceded by Pritchard’s punchdrunk foul on Whittingham. Rarely was a final whistle greeted with such undisguised relief. The significance of a result gained by a depleted, injury riddled group of players in such stirring circumstances could be profound. In its immediate aftermath, they could be proud of themselves. Their marvellously hoarse fans made it clear that they were.
Kevin Nolan’s Match Report is brought to you in association with , 294 Burnt Ash Hill, London, SE12 0QD.
Charlton: Hamer, Morrison, Cort, Dervite, Solly, Haynes (Wright-Phillips 66), Pritchard, Stephens (Hollands 90), Jackson. Kerkar, Hulse. Not used: Button, Taylor, Green, Fox, Azeez. Booked: Morrison, Pritchard, Stepehens, Solly, Hulse.
Cardiff: Marshall, Connolly, Turner, Hudson, Taylor, Noone, Cowie (Gunnarsson 68), Whittingham, Frei (Bo-Kyung 68), Mason, Helguson (Gestede 73). Not used: Lewis, McNaughton, Kiss, Conway. Booked: Taylor, Turner, Connolly.
Referee: K. Stroud. Att: 15,764.