Charlton 2 (Fuller 77, Kermorgant 85) Peterborough United 0.
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
Disgruntled and disconsolate, Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson made no secret of his feelings in the press room after this harsh defeat. He was still struggling to accept that his attractive, if vulnerable, side had lost. And he wasn’t alone in his disbelief.
Encouraged by holding relegation rivals Ipswich Town to a draw at Portman Road three days previously, United had shown impressive style in dominating large chunks of this absorbing game but came up empty-handed. During an extended siege of the home goal after the interval, they had their increasingly desperate hosts on an uncomfortable rack but a glaring lack of strike power to put the necessary seal on their neat approach play proved their undoing. Then, with 12 minutes left, a cruel lesson in uncomplicated goalscoring reminded Posh that if you can’t win, the thing is not to lose. Even a useful, richly merited goalless draw was snatched from their grasp.
Having returned from a six-week injury lay-off at the weekend, Ricardo Fuller had played reasonably well without making a huge impression. The highlight of his evening was the sinuous solo dribble through a startled defence, followed by a quickwitted toepoke, which keeper Bobby Olijnak resourcefully kept out with his feet. There would, however, be one more chance for Fuller much later on and the patient, streetwise veteran made the most of it.
There was no apparent threat to the visitors as Fuller accepted Yann Kermorgant’s routine pass some 25 yards from goal. Until, that is, with minimal backlift but surprising power, a bombshell of a shot left Olijnak helpless on its fizzing, dipping way into the left corner of the net. As last hurrahs go, this one was special because Fuller promptly collapsed collapsed with a recurrence of the hamstring trouble which has dogged him throughout his brief Charlton career. Damaged hamstrings are, as it happens, all the go around Sparrows Lane.
Five minutes from time, Kermorgant sealed his own return from A&E with a reassuring second goal. Having announced himself after just 90 seconds with a thunderous drive, which Olijnak saved spectacularly, the clearly onside Breton was on hand near the far post to tap in the crisply driven low cross from substitute Danny Green, with which Rob Hulse had already made faint contact. From a press box vantage point, Hulse’s effort was bobbling wide until Kermorgant alertly arrived to make sure.
And there, in two nutshells, was the message that Ferguson Jr. needs to take on board. In football, it’s not so much how elegantly you set out as how pristinely you arrive. Peterborough looked proper Posh for much of Tuesday evening’s excursion before degenerating into travel-stained passengers; Charlton, on the other hand, roughed it in third class but turned up in immaculate shape to enjoy the last laugh at journey’s end.
Pleasing on the eye much of the time, United had chances to take the lead before their hosts broke through, none better than the artfully clipped effort on the run from George Boyd, which had a startled Ben Hamer scrambling to turn over his bar. Soon after the break, lively debutant Dwight Gayle should have improved on the drive he buried into Hamer’s midriff after George Thorne’s perfect pass picked him out, while clever midfielder Lee Tomlin knew little about the shot from George Boyd that he inadvertently deflected against the base of the left post. Tomlin’s vicious low drive brought Hamer down at full length to save before skipper Michael Bostwick, with another crisp daisycutter, tested the in-form Hamer as Posh rode the crest of an attacking wave. A confident but abortive penalty claim when Kerkar clumsily upended Tomlin undoubtedly added to Ferguson’s sense of injustice. Seen ’em given; seen ’em turned down. That’s how it goes.
At the other end, Johnnie Jackson wastefully headed Salim Kerkar’s chipped cross over the bar but it was the early booking picked up by Michael Morrison, for scything down Tomlin, which plunged The Valley into gloom. Morrison’s fifth caution of the season means that he will miss Saturday’s daunting trip to Millwall. Manager Chris Powell has already shown impressive ability to improvise this season but Morrison’s absence at the Den is a handicap he could have done without. He can be trusted to solve this latest selection conundrum.
Staying sharp through most of the second period, Posh turned the screw as much of Charlton’s defending dissolved into emergency tactics. Renowned as a freescoring side, they have actually managed only nine goals in ten trips away from London Road. It was their lack of cutting edge, much more than a shortage of luck, that brought their downfall on Tuesday. Good side, though. Nice to watch.
Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Cort, Morrison, Seaborne, Pritchard, Frimpong (Green 75), Jackson, Kerkar, Kermorgant (Jonsson 90), Fuller (Hulse 78). Not used: Button, Stephens, Wright-Phillips, Dervite. Booked: Morrison, Frimpong.
Peterborough: Olejnik, Knight-Percival, Brisley (Swanson 84), Little, Bostwick, Newell, McCann, Boyd, Tomlin, Thorne, Gayle. Not used: Day, Alcock, Zakuani, Ferdinand, Clarke-Harris, Carthey.
Referee: Iain Williamson. Att: 17,377.
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