Tuesday 15th August 2023: League One: The Valley: Charlton Athletic vs Bristol Rovers
Between watching this incredible spectacle yesterday and writing about it today my phone has gone haywire and is currently utterly unusable. Due to these untimely technical difficulties I had a look at the official statistics from the game to help refresh my memory of events. Never has a set of numbers caused me more confusion, the only things that tallies with my recollections are the final score and the timing of the goals.
From my vantage point in the home stands I saw Charlton dominate the full 98 minutes of play, from the first whistle to the last they played Bristol Rovers off the park the only problem they had was an inability to turn their glut of chances into goals. I thought the official possession stats would be at least 80-20 in the hosts favour but they came out at just 53%-47% to the hosts instead.
Charlton created a ton of chances in the first half thanks to their brilliant interplay down each flank that the Rovers full backs just couldn’t live with. Corey Blackett-Taylor, on the left, Nathan Asimwe and Karoy Anderson, both on the right, were turning their opposite numbers inside out at every opportunity and then laying on a sumptuous variety of balls for strikers Jack Payne and Alfie May in the centre.
How they failed to truly test Matthew Cox in the visitor’s goal only they will know, but even when the wingers took on the task themselves they failed to beat the Brentford loannee.
Even though Rovers had managed to limp to half-time with the match all square at 0-0 it felt like only a matter of time till Charlton took the lead they deserved. With the amount of chances Alfie May in particular was getting, and his form at previous club Cheltenham Town, I would have bet my house on him being the man to break the deadlock.
It was not to be however, as Scott Sinclair fired the visitors into the lead completely against the run of play in the 58th minute. Rovers had barely threatened the home goal up to this point but when a free-kick from the left was parried into his path by Charlton keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer he made no mistake in firing it home to give the Gas a lead they scarcely deserved.
When substitute Daniel Kanu finally restored a well-deserved parity to proceedings in the 72nd minute it felt, once again, like it was only a matter of time before Charlton secured the 3 points their performance deserved. It was not to be….
The ultimate sucker punch would be delivered by another substitute, Luke McCormick, deep into injury time at the end of the 90. However, before it arrived it looked like Alfie May would provide me, and all the home fans, with the goal we all expected him to provide.
Twice teammates put him clear through on goal with just Cox standing in the way of the winner. On the first occasion he was cynically chopped down by recovering defender Josh Grant, a tackle for which he was extremely luckily to be shown only a yellow card.
On the second he held off all defenders and even managed to slide the ball past the onrushing Cox… only to see it cannon off the post.
Having seen both these chances added to all the others that went begging for the hosts it should have come as little surprise when McCormick punished the hosts with a clinical finish of his own minutes later.
To see a Rovers team who had been completely absent for large periods of the match walk off at the final whistle with all 3 points left me utterly shell-shocked.
It felt like a travesty to see the hosts dominate the whole match and yet come away with nothing, but I spose that’s what can happen when you don’t take your chances; someone else will take theirs and you end up leaving empty handed.
Whilst there are many positives for the hosts to take from the manner of the performance, but without goals to back up those performances they will struggle to secure the points they require to reach the heights they look capable of hitting.
The Football tourist 