Charlton v Oldham Athletic - League One

The Valley, Charlton

Saturday 10^th October 2009 15:00 K.O.

Margaret and I were accompanied by Matt on one of his rare away excursions. We left Burton-on-Trent at 7:00am and the roads were kind to us as we sped down the A38, A50 and M1 to Brent Cross underground station. By 9:35am Matt had left us at Camden on the Northern Line to undertake his sightseeing walk through London to Waterloo. We continued to Bank and then on the District Line from Monument to Tower Hill.

We wanted to make the most of our third trip to London this season, so we went by City Cruise boat at 10:40am from Tower Pier to Greenwich, via Canary Wharf, accompanied by a commentary.

With so much to see in this World Heritage Site, we limited our sightseeing to the Royal Naval College and Seamen‘s Hospital, which have taken on a new role as the main campus of Greenwich University and Trinity College of Music.

The wow factor was experienced in the impressive Chapel and the magnificent Painted Hall, where the body of Admiral Lord Nelson was taken to lie in state after had been killed at the moment of his victory over Napoleon's fleet at Cape Trafalgar.

Unfortunately, .we did not have time to see the Royal Observatory, with its meridian lies and the latitude by which (almost *) everyone sets their clocks. We shall definitely be visiting Greenwich in future to see more of its sights.

For lunch I had some great Portuguese food in the covered Greenwich Market, before we went by bus to Charlton. Last time had been to watch Latics play at Charlton over ten years ago, we had seen the Thames Barrier in the distance and vowed to take a closer look in future. So this time we went past the stadium and walked down a long road full of small businesses associated with the motor trade, with plenty of ‘Arthur Daley’ and ’Del Boy’ characters in evidence. The world’s second largest moveable flood barrier was very impressive and the O2 Arena (previously known as the Millennium Dome) could be seen in the distance. Perhaps we’ll see that close-up on a future trip.

By 1:30pm we met up with Matt again and other Latics fans at the Rose of Denmark. This pub not only allowed in away supporters but absolutely welcomed them. It had framed photos displayed on the wall of other clubs’ fans who had visited the pub in previous seasons.

We were asked to contribute a group picture to be included in the record of visiting fans from this season, and we were happy to oblige.

With this being a new ground for most Latics fans, there was the biggest turnout away from home so far this season. The customary picture of the Ernie Flag was taken against the background of the impressive statue of Charlton Athletic legend Sam Bartram, who played in goal for 22 years, including the F.A. Cup Final victory in 1947, and was never dropped from the team.

Also, with the Flag’s presence needed at Charlton, it could not be taken with the Latics and England fans to the World Cup qualifier in Ukraine.

I was impressed with the stewards, who took a relaxed attitude to the away supporters standing throughout the match, and even to the group of standing fans near the front singing chants about the appearance of various stewards. The atmosphere in the Valley, was also impressive, particularly in the second half, as the Charlton fans found their voices and their drum.

With Chris Taylor and Alan Sheehan both failing fitness tests, Dave Penney elected to play five men across midfield with Pawel Abbott on his own up front.

Latics settled down quickly to play attractive football. They had the lion’s share of possession in the early stages, defended well and looked impressive on the counter-attack.. After half an hour they protested strongly that they should have been awarded a penalty when Alex Marrow went down under a challenge from Frazer Richardson, an appeal which was completely ignored by referee Horwood.

Charlton were beginning to look a bit edgy and the visitors’ confidence grew even more in the 35th minute when Dean Furman saw his shot sail past the post following a period of neat passing.

Charlton’s Spring tried his luck again from 30-yards and was not too far away from the target, while Deon Burton almost applied a crucial touch to Llera’s dangerous cross as the Addicks finally woke up.

Colbeck ended a fine passing move for Latics with a wayward sliced shot, as the first half ebbed and flowed like the River Thames, in an enthralling spectacle.

The hosts had been lethargic in the first half, but after the break they were much improved, constantly probing without being able to break down the Latics rearguard, which was as strong as the Thames Barrier.

A Whittaker fee-kick resulted in the ball going in the Charlton net, when was met by Reuben Hazell and his header was deflected in by Pawel Abbott, but the ’goal’ was ruled out due to a foul by captain Sean Gregan in the build-up. Then Keigan Parker sent a shot high and wide.

Charlton introduced Izale McLeod in the 63rd minute in an attempt to ignite their attacking threat but he wasted four chances by miskicking, heading over, slicing wide and shooting off target. Then Charlton’s Racon beat Hazell, Gregan and Marrow, with the help of a deflection, and looked certain to score until Jon Worthington came to the rescue by whipping the ball off Racon’s boot.

Charlton went even closer to breaking the deadlock after 70 minutes as Llera hit the top of the crossbar from a Bailey free-kick. Then Leon McKenzie, on his debut, missed an absolute sitter after Racon found him unmarked 12-yards out, but the substitute somehow contrived to place his effort wide of the post.

Keigan Parker was replaced by Keiran Lee for Latics on 80 minutes.

Charlton's Youga produced the game’s most spectacular moment six minutes from time with a stunning flick-up and overhead kick, which crashed off the bar before the danger was finally cleared by a relieved Latics defence.

The referee seemed to get caught up with the pressure build-up by Charlton and started to give one-sided decisions in favour of the home team.

After taking a long time for his third successive throw-in, Kelvin Lomax was booked for time-wasting and goalkeeper Dean Brill was booked for what the referee interpreted as the same offence, in spite of taking only the normal time over a goal kick.

As neither Club‘s physic had been on the pitch throughout the game , the announcement of a minimum of five minutes of stoppage time produced gasps of disbelief from the visiting fans, proving that it is not only Sir Alex Ferguson who fails to set his watch to Greenwich mean time*.

Pawel Abbott blasted over in stoppage time with the last chance, and the final whistle was greeted with relief and heartfelt applause for the team’s valiant efforts.

With Latics having 43% of the possession, playing some attractive football, showing excellent defensive skills and a tremendous work rate throughout the team, this was a thoroughly well-deserved point against one of the promotion favourites. It took the unbeaten run to five games with no goals conceded in four of them. In fact the only one conceded had been an unfortunate own goal deflected in off the head of goalkeeper Dean Brill.

The journey back to Brent Cross was lively with Latics fans continuing the afternoon’s singing out of The Valley, onto the train and on the walk through London Bridge station. At King’s Cross/St. Pancras station on the Northern Line, there was a delay while the driver investigated a passenger alarm which had been activated. Of course the presence of Latics fans on board was purely coincidental.

Unlike other great days out supporting Latics, which have tended to go downhill when the match has started, this time we had the satisfaction of heading back up the M1 with another well-earned point from an excellent performance, and more sightseeing to look forward to on our next trip to the capital.