Charlton 0 Burnley 1 (Austin 43).
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
Those anxious glances Charlton have been throwing over their shoulders recently are becoming more frequent – not to mention more anxious. This second successive defeat at The Valley, their eighth of the season, continued the demoralising process of dismal home form undermining their magnificent performances on the road. Only the convenient ineptitude of several struggling wretches below them in the table continues to cushion their fall but the gap remorselessly narrows. Unpredictable Peterborough are poised to exploit any resultant weakness on Tuesday evening. You never know what to expect from that wild-eyed crew of lunatics.
It seems that worried Chris Powell is no nearer to solving the conundrum. His delight at putting one over on old mentor Nigel Pearson at Leicester two weeks ago has quickly dissolved into the despair of losing, first to brilliant Nottingham Forest, then to well organised but less than brilliant Burnley.
Deprived of the irresponsibly suspended Yann Kermorgant and dead leg victim Chris Solly, Powell jettisoned his natural caution, shuffled his pack and indulged an unsuspected gambler’s instinct. Off form Ben Hamer was dropped for league debutant David Button; Lawrie Wilson replaced Solly at right back; Dale Stephens lost his place in a three-man midfield comprising Bradley Pritchard, Dorian Dervite and Johnnie Jackson.
It was up front, though, that the changes were truly rung. A second debutant in loan signing Jonathan Obika joined Ricardo Fuller and Danny Haynes in, ostensibly at least, a hell-for-leather attacking trio. The boss’s boldness was admirable but, regrettably, not vindicated by results. Obika was ineffective, Fuller laborious, with only Haynes providing one or two scares for the largely untroubled visitors.
Leading Burnley’s attack, meanwhile, was 26-goal Charlie Austin who, so the matchday programme informed us, was enduring something of a slump with only six goals in seventeen games since Sean Dyche took over the managership from Eddie Howe, whose initiative it was to sign the coveted striker from Swindon Town. We can adjust that figure to seven in eighteen now and if Austin scores a better goal than the one which sunk Charlton, he and Dyche will be justified in savouring it.
There had been little to divide two mediocre sides before Austin struck two minutes before the break. The Clarets were enjoying a slight edge while the Addicks, without a clean sheet in 14 previous games, paddled along with that about-to-capsize air of vulnerability they have about them in home games. With an urgently needed break in reach, up popped the predatory Austin to hole them below the waterline.
Picking up an innocuous ball some 30 yards to the left of Charlton’s goal, Burnley’s prolific striker turned smoothly infield to set up an uninhibited, right-footed drive which gave Button no chance on its unstoppable way into the far top corner.There was no particular insight needed in predicting that his singular talent had prematurely settled a pre-ordained issue.
Not that Charlton gave in. Haynes had already extended Lee Grant with a looping header during a monotonous first half when, before the hour, he came as close as his colourless side would come to equalising. An incongruously flowing move was begun by Fuller’s perceptive pass inside Daniel Lafferty, which allowed an overlapping Wilson to shake off the outmanouevred left back, before crossing accurately on the run. Timing his leap perfectly, Haynes’ text-book header was destined for the bottom right corner until Grant plunged full-length to touch the ball safely around his post.
Shortly after Haynes’ game effort, Powell wisely abandoned his abortive 4-3-3 experiment, bringing on Danny Green for Obika and Callum Harriott for Dervite in a re-vamped 4-4-2 shape. The intention was clearly to introduce width and Green, but sadly to a lesser extent an over elaborate Harriott, had some success. It seemed self-defeating, however, that without aerial specialist Kermorgant to play off, the Addicks embarked on a relentless mortar assault on the trenches, into which pragmatic Burnley retreated after Austin’s bombshell gave them the advantage.
In increasing desperation, centre backs Michael Morrison and Leon Cort began spending more time in the visitors’ penalty area than their own, deserted territory. It was a spirited but clueless response, with which Burnley, unabashed in deploying all 11 players inside their own half, dealt stoically. There was clearly no point in trying to club them into submission but Charlton, persistently if ill-advisedly, had a stab at it. And so, laboured and wearisome, the long march to freedom trudges onward….
Kevin Nolan’s Match Report is brought to you in association with , 294 Burnt Ash Hill, London, SE12 0QD.
Charlton: Button, Wilson, Cort, Morrison, Wiggins, Pritchard, Dervite (Harriott 63), Jackson, Haynes, Fuller, Obika (Green 63). Not used: Hamer, Hughes, Evina, Taylor, Wagstaff.
Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Long, Shackell, Lafferty, Stanislav (Ings 73), Bartley, Kacaniklic (Stock 88), Edgar, Paterson, Austin (Vokes 85). Not used: Jensen, O’Neill, Mills, Treacy. Booked: Austin, Lafferty, Vokes, Paterson.
Referee: S. Hooper. Att: 20,065.