Ah, screw the intros for once. Just what the doctor ordered: greater commitment and resolve than last Saturday, the rub of the green (which thanks to the officials we didn’t get last time out) with their early red card and later penalty miss, and a priceless three points. Like against Sheff Utd, when we took the lead against nine men, going in 0-2 up at the break today against a demoralised 10-man team you hope that we would go on and win the game comfortably, scoring a few more. Like before that didn’t happen, and you give Leicester some credit for their second-half showing. But the league table is what matters – and that shows us three points better off than we were at the start of the day. Who could ask for more (except other results going our way)?
Going into the game we had to be considered the underdogs, off the back of last Saturday’s result and the form guide. But Leicester are slipping down the league for reasons, sacked their manager, so we didn’t really know how they would shape up. And of course we had new signings to take into account.
The comings and goings made it anyone’s guess who Jones would go with today. In the event he retained the formation, boosted by the return from injury of Bell. He lined up alongside Jones and Ramsay, with Clarke and Chambers the wing-backs. Cover from the bench would be provided by Gillesphey and Fevrier. Coady went straight into the team, but as a defensive midfielder alongside the returning Docherty (no place in the squad for either Anderson or Fullah, with Coventry, Rankin-Costello and Berry on the bench), with Carey further forward. Up front Jones went again with the two big men to start, Dykes and Leaburn, with Godden, Kelman and Campbell among the subs.
It looked like choices geared around prioritising a clean sheet, with little expectation of much creativity going forward, rather reliance on two to hold things up and feed off hoofs in their direction, set pieces, and Carey to perhaps get on the end of something. It also looked like a team with players – Chambers, Bell, Ramsay, even Jones with his foot issue - not likely to last the full game.
The first 10 minutes or so on the clock amounted to mostly stoppages as first Dykes stayed down after an arial contest, then Leaburn and Jones clashed heads and needed treatment, then the ref’s equipment seemed to malfunction. Perhaps a disjointed start to proceedings worked to our advantage, not allowing them to settle, but before we could really find out on 14 minutes the game took a significant turn in our favour.
Carey sent a ball out of defence in the direction of Leaburn and his marker. The latter misjudged the bounce and with the ball going over his head Leaburn spun the faster and was away. Their guy pulled him back and bundled him over. He was still a fair way from goal, but a quick check was enough to confirm that there was no covering defender and nobody likely to stop Leaburn from a run on goal (except his marker if he had kept his cool). A red card was the only possible outcome.
That prompted Leicester to make a change and the question for us was do we change the gameplan now up against 10? There was no immediate adjustment from us and after 20 minutes it didn’t seem to matter as we should have been ahead. A superb ball in from Clarke on the right was going to find Leaburn in behind, but their defender just managed to get a touch with his head to send it over the bar for a corner. That corner was whipped towards the far post and with a helping touch or two from a couple of Charlton players nestled in the net. The ref, perhaps influenced by having shown the red card, erred in favour of their keeper and disallowed the goal. The replays showed no Charlton player touched him, he was blocked by his own defenders. Unless the ref gave a foul for something else, which was far from obvious, the goal should have stood.
With Leicester having to make another change due to an injury, we were just hoping to make it all pay. Coady couldn’t quite bring down a ball at the far post from a set piece, then a Clarke ball in almost found Carey. No matter, because on 35 minutes we did open the scoring. Another peach of a ball in from the right side from Clarke just cleared Dykes and a couple of defenders and Carey got on the end of it. There was perhaps an element of fortune as his attempt to control saw the ball bounce up rather than go elsewhere, but he kept his eyes on the prize and made sure he was first to it, driving it home from close range. Perhaps their keeper might have come out for it, but Carey deserves credit for the single-minded approach to the opportunity.
Leicester still seemed to carry a threat with tricky forwards and decent link-up play. Chambers had to put behind a dangerous ball across the box. But Chambers also appeared at the other end as Ramsay, played in by Clarke, sent over a cross and via Dykes and Docherty it ended up at the far post, Chambers forcing their keeper to make a decent save with is foot.
There were 10 minutes of stoppage time and before they were used up we scored again, with a well-crafted and taken goal. Docherty won the ball back and played it forward for Leaburn. He laid it back for Chambers, who sent in a beautifully weighted cross. It sailed over the heads of two leaden-footed defenders and Dykes was able to stretch and get his boot to it. All he needed to do was make contact and divert it back across the keeper, which he did perfectly.
As Leicester trudged off at half-time you really felt that there was the opportunity for us to go on and score three, four … (strangely the half-time stats showed they had seven attempts on goal to our five, but their efforts were blocked or wide, none on target, while we had three on target and two goals). That didn’t happen. Indeed, for us it could even have all gone pear-shaped. And for that you have to give Leicester some credit (always easy to do after a victory).
Indeed, with Godden introduced for us for Leaburn (we all thought perhaps Dykes would make was as he had picked up a yellow, but a fellow Addick says he saw Leaburn with his arm in a sling after the game), Leicester came out for the second half and ran us ragged. Shots rained in on our goal, only to be blocked, diverted or saved. Mavididi and Fatawu causing us no end of problems on either flank. We just needed to see out this spell without conceding you felt and then gradually wear them down again. But on 54 minutes Leicester had their change to halve the deficit.
Fatawu beat Bell going into the box and Bell clearly pulled him back. He went to ground and nobody had any complaints about the penalty being given. Up stepped Ayew. He managed to send Kaminski the wrong way, but his effort hit the outside of the other post and was cleared. If that had gone in who knows how the game would have turned out, with shades of Blackburn (who we had on the ropes and let back in to steal a draw).
On 65 minutes Jones made the further changes. Coady, who’d done a fine job in steadying the midfield, had run his course and departed, along with Chambers (who isn’t yet up to 90 minutes) and Carey, with Coventry, Campbell and newcomer Fevrier coming on. That meant a change to a 4-4-2, with Bell moving to left-back, Campbell and Fevrier operating as wingers. (As an aside, when Apter hears about that he will tear his hair out, just the set-up for him, but we’ve moved him on and his loan replacement was able to operate as a right-winger, a role denied Apter for so long.)
As the clock ran down it was apparent that we were more than content with what we had and to still have a two-goal cushion. Leicester didn’t give up, but probably knew their chance had gone. We saw out the game, with six added minutes, with no further real alarms, even bringing on Gillesphey for Dykes for the final stages. And when the whistle went we could celebrate a win which seemed a long shot before the game.
What did we learn? First, why Docherty has been out of the squad of late is a deeper mystery. Second, Clarke and Chambers gave ample demonstration of how to deliver a ball into the box, in stark contrast to what has gone before. Third, Coady looked and played with great reassurance, looked a very good addition in our circumstances. Fourth, I’d just about give MotM to Dykes. He was a pain for them throughout, kept his cool when on a yellow, scored his goal. Today gives us something to build on, let’s seize that opportunity.
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