Blackpool 0 Charlton 2 (Cort 49, Solly 73).
Kevin Nolan reports from Bloomfield Road.
The timing, not to mention the importance, of this unexpected but no less welcome win on the road is impossible to overestimate. It improved Charlton’s record to an encouraging 12 points from 10 games and it’s generally accepted that ten is the minimum number of games on which any sensible prediction should be based concerning a team’s long term prospects.
Some overweight bloke in a pub somewhere said so and now it’s part of football folklore. Mind you, he probably has a point. Following the demoralising midweek loss to 10-man Watford, Charlton’s magnificent result can be added to the frequent shocks already reverberating through the early weeks of this most democratic of Championships. But though it was unpredictable, make no mistake, Charlton fully deserved to win. The parting shot of one disgruntled Blackpool supporter summed it up succinctly. “We were bloody second best everywhere it mattered”, he muttered to nobody in particular and it was hard to disagree. In fact, it made your reporter fairly blush with pleasure.
Though the Addicks’ success was based on sound, sturdy defending, this was no smash-and-grab raid. It’s just that the entire back four was outstanding and that from their ranks there emerged a heartwarming man of the match.
As Charlton have struggled to find their feet at a higher level, often unfair criticism has been levelled at new boy Lawrie Wilson since he stepped up to deputise for long term injury victim Rhoys Wiggins. At sunlit Bloomfield Road, with the winds off the Irish Sea at rest for once, Wilson answered his detractors with a display of class and courage.
When Blackpool manager Ian Holloway responded to falling behind to Carl Cort’s header shortly after the interval by rushing hot shot Thomas Ince into the fray, Wilson really came into his own. A previously subdued home crowd greeted their young star rapturously in the expectation that his pace and power would turn the tide. With six goals and as many assists in only seven games, Ince’s return from a brief injury absence was a problem that Charlton -and in particular their new right back – could have done without. But they -and he- coped admirably.
With a steady first half behind him, Wilson coolly popped the dangerous winger into his hip pocket and got on with the job of supporting substitute Bradley Pritchard up and down the touchline. In desperation, Ince tried his luck on the opposite flank, where he found the pickings just as paltry against the remarkable Chris Solly. Redoubtable defenders Cort and Solly even found time to visit the other end and score Charlton’s goals.
During an even first period, breakneck blocks from Solly and Michael Morrison denied first the dangerous Matt Phillips, then Neil Eardley as the overrated Seasiders passed their way forward ponderously but predictably. It’s not for us to advise Holloway but his side appears to be handicapped by a severe lack of pace. They threatened again when Gary Fletcher-Taylor’s enterprising 40-yard lob caught Ben Hamer off his line but grazed the crossbar; just before the break, Phillips cut inside Solly to force Hamer into a low, diving save at his left post. It was Charlton, though, who came closest to retiring with a lead.
A brief cameo of Ricardo Fuller’s repertoire saw the savvy old pro win a right wing corner off Stephen Crainey. Meeting Salim Kerkar’s inswinging delivery ahead of his marker at the near post, his powerful header beat Matt Gilks but rebounded to safety off the underside of the bar. It seemed at the time that the visitors were out of luck again.
Four minutes into the second half, however, the Addicks were deservedly in front. From a left wing corner won by Kerkar off Eardley and taken by Dale Stephens, Cort outjumped Alex Baptiste and headed downward on one bounce into the roof of the net.
Ince made his first meaningful contribution with a cleverly volleyed snapshot but Hamer beat it clear with two firm hands. Paul’s talented kid threatened again but Solly typically blocked his close range effort almost at source.
Idolised by Charlton fans for his polished defending, Solly scores, it’s fair to say, irregularly. A close range strike at Leyton Orient a couple of years ago was a personal milestone but remains his first and only goal for the club. The rising drive which returned Stephens’ blocked shot, then curved in flight before nestling neatly under the angle of bar and right post, was totally different gravy. It not only sealed the Addicks’ vital victory but sent a sizeable contingent of travelling fans into rhapsodic salute. Something about him being only five foot three but better than John Terr-ee. And, er, a reference to his blankety blank quality. You couldn’t make it up. Except they did.
Blackpool: Gilks, Earley, Evatt, Baptiste, Crainey, Osbourne (Dicko 67), Gomes (Ince 53), Ferguson, Taylor-Fletcher, Matt Phillips, Delfouneso (Kevin Phillips 62). Not used: Sylvestre, Cathcart, Halstead, Angel.
Charlton: Hamer, Wilson, Cort, Morrison, Solly, Green (Pritchard 20), Hollands, Stephens, Razak (Dervite 80), Kerkar, Fuller (Hulse 84). Not used: Evina, Wright-Phillips, Wagstaff, Button.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham. Att: 13,482.
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