Charlton 0 Millwall 2 (Easter 58, Lowry 65).
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
According to Ben Franklin, death and taxes are the only certainties in life. If he was still around, though, the old codger might add another sure thing…Millwall beat Charlton at football. No matter how the teams are doing when they meet…Millwall beat Charlton at football. It’s what they call a gimme, Ben.
This latest clash of historically mismatched rivals made the point perfectly. Logic pointed to a rare win for the Addicks because just about everything was in their favour. Having soldiered through two exacting cup-ties since Charlton last played, the Lions arrived at The Valley, not only lacking influential midfielder James Henry but also deprived of regular centre back Mark Beevers through suspension. With playmaker Andy Keogh presumably feeling the strain and benched, where he remained, they were further disrupted after just 16 minutes by the loss of deputy defender Karleigh Osborne to yet another injury. Depleted and supposedly drained, the visitors seemed there for the taking by rested, virtually full-strength Charlton. Well, we should have known better because if you don’t learn from history, you’re a cinch to repeat its mistakes, not to mention its results. And history teaches us that… Millwall beat Charlton at football. So let’s have a go at an explaining the phenomenon.
The suspicion lingers that generation after generation of Charlton players have had it drummed into them that games against Millwall have no more significance than those against any other opposition. The same number of points are available from each fixture and it’s an unnecessary distraction to get caught up in all this local derby hype. So the Addicks are not so much pumped up as let down. Their feet stay firmly on the ground. No added edge for them. It’s all very professional and strictly business.
Now try telling that to Millwall’s players. It’s a safe bet that over in S.E.16, they listen to a more belligerent mantra, one which leaves them in no doubt what this fixture means to their fans. They don’t dare lose and it’s this healthy fear that motivates them. They simply want it more and it’s exactly that desire which added a yard of pace during this game, as an example, to man mountain Danny Shittu’s legs in several one-on-one face-offs with speedster Danny Haynes. Ex-Addick Shittu was the very symbol of the visitors’ defiant togetherness.
The first half of Charlton’s latest humiliation suggested briefly that the usual trend was about to be reversed. If anything, the Addicks had the better of its humdrum exchanges, with David Forde initially shaky in dealing with Bradley Pritchard’s snapshot, then making a more efficient job of turning aside a fiercer effort from Callum Harriott. They turned out to be his only genuine saves. At the other end, premature substitute Adam Smith, under crucial pressure from Chris Solly, snatched at the Lions’ best chance and drove it wastefully wide. There wasn’t much else to recommend 45 forgettable minutes.
A bright start to the second period offered the home fans further encouragement. Harriott’s clever footwork tempted Alan Dunne into a rash foul on the edge of the penalty area but Yann Kermorgant curled the free kick a whisker wide; Rhoys Wiggins’ cleverly improvised cross was touched on by Kermorgant for Lawrie Wilson to lift a point-blank chance over the bar at the far post. And that was Charlton’s bolt well and truly shot. Not for the first time in the one-sided history of this fixture, Millwall coldly put them in their place.
Emergency loan acquisitions Richard Chaplow and Jermaine Easter are possibly no more than nodding acquaintances but they were clearly on the same wavelength as Chaplow squeezed a left-wing cross between Solly and Johnnie Jackson. Meeting the low delivery at the near post, Easter expertly tucked it under David Button’s body and Charlton were already doomed to yet another home defeat, this one far more more painful than most.
Seven minutes later came the coup-de-grace, set up by Pritchard’s boneheaded foul on Smith as the full back bore down on Charlton’s penalty area. From 25 yards, Shane Lowry rubbed salt in their wounds with a wonderful free kick bent beyond Button’s desperate grasp into the top right corner.
What remained was the agony of a crowd which had touchingly turned up in hope and were left to reproach themselves for falling for it yet again. Their refusal to turn on their beaten team commends them but, don’t be fooled, they never get used to losing to Millwall. There aren’t even any past glories to recall – no, wait a minute, there was the famous 2-0 romp in the snow at the Den in December 1995 but it’s a bit embarrassing to harp on about a victory 18 years ago in a different century. And even that is effectively trumped by the much more recent 4-0 debacle that still keeps this reporter awake at night.
So the thing is, Ben, you can rely on taxes and bet your mortgage on death. But here’s something else to consider…Millwall beat Charlton at football. And for certainty that beats your two all hollow.
Kevin Nolan’s Match Report is brought to you in association with , 294 Burnt Ash Hill, London, SE12 0QD.
Charlton: Button, Solly, Taylor, Morrison, Wiggins, Wilson (Wagstaff 67), Pritchard, Jackson, Harriott, Haynes (Fuller 67), Kermorgant. Not used: Hamer, Evina, Stephens, Obika, Dervite. Booked: Pritchard.
Millwall: Forde, Jack Smith, Shittu, Osborne (Adam Smith 16), Dunne, Chris Taylor, Trotter, Lowry, Chaplow (Abdou 57), N’Guessan (Easter 57), Hulse. Not used: Maik Taylor, Woolford, Keogh, Saville. Booked: Smith, Dunne.
Referee: Neil Swarbrick. Att: 18,514.