Kevin Nolan’s Match Report: Charlton v Leeds United (9/11/2013)

Charlton 2 (Stewart 45, Jackson 70) Leeds United 4 (McCormack 17, 48 pen, 73, 90).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

On a dank, drab afternoon, not to mention a sodden pudding of a pitch, Charlton produced their best attacking display of the season, scored two fine goals but still lost to Leeds United. Their downfall can be traced to an inability to control in- form striker Ross McCormack.

The sharp, mobile Scot’s finishing was in a class of its own, his open-play hat-trick as clinical as it gets, the penalty he slammed past Ben Hamer a foregone conclusion. Supported by the superb goalkeeping of Paddy Kenny, he was the difference between these sides; a difference, it needs to be said, enhanced by more dubious methods.

McCormack’s tour-de-force made it almost possible to overlook the darker side of Leeds’ contribution to this sometimes rollicking match. Almost but not quite. A team with gamesmanship in its DNA turned every trick in a repertoire indelibly associated with Elland Road to secure a rare away win. As early as the 38th minute, Kenny set the black arts in motion with a booking for timewasting. His colleagues, meanwhile, broke up play by rolling, writhing and whining in regular, pain-wracked agony. Rarely can a football team have suffered such wretched ill-health. And it was all done on the watch of new manager Brian McDermott, whose record at his former clubs seemed scrupulously devoid of such sharp practice. Leeds don’t change but apparently he does. Still, when in Rome….!

Scoring more than once for the first time in nine games, Charlton chose an inopportune occasion to sag defensively. They should draw heart, however, from a bright, often imaginative performance which, had McCormack and Kenny not skilfully interfered, would have earned them only their second home win of a struggling campaign.

With Callum Harriott’s flair preferred to Bradley Pritchard’s diligence on the right flank, the Addicks started with the confidence of a side unbeaten in five games since October 1st. Lively Harriott had already gone close twice before McCormack struck for the first time.

A foul by Jordan Cousins on Rodolph Austin in the centre circle began the process; Tom Lees’ soaring free kick was astutely nodded over a flummoxed Lawrie Wilson by Dexter Blackstock, leaving McCormack to take a steadying touch before rifling a left-footed drive past Ben Hamer.

Spurred on by Rhoys Wiggins, Charlton hit back spiritedly. The first of the left back’s series of low-driven crosses was awkwardly cleared for a corner by Jason Pearce, a second was turned on to the outside of a post by Simon Church. The Welshman’s sweetly struck half-volley from yet another of Wiggins’ fine deliveries seemed certain to bulge the net but was brilliantly parried by Kenny.

The visitors looked likely to survive to half-time until Cameron Stewart spectacularly equalised in added time. Johnnie Jackson’s free kick was headed out to the winger, whose explosive 25-yard volley left Kenny helpless on its way into the top left corner. While United wilted briefly, Harriott shaved the bar with a curling drive, marvellously improvised from the right flank with the outside of his left foot.

Three minutes after the break, Harriott’s promising display took a turn for the worse. Responsibly tracking Danny Pugh’s aggressive run into Charlton’s penalty area, he stuck a defensively untutored foot in where it didn’t belong and tripped the left back. McCormack made easy work of converting the clearcut spotkick. Erratic referee Stroud got that one right but, unfortunately for Charlton, had been less eagle-eyed when turning a tolerant eye to the blatant first half trip which felled Church in the area. You’ve seen ’em given – about 99% of the time!

Still irrepressible, Harriott promptly went close to making amends. His viciously swerving drive was magnificently fingertipped over the bar by Kenny while, unmarked at the far post, Dorian Dervite should have done better than make a hasty hash of stabbing Jackson’s corner over the bar. But Charlton weren’t kept waiting long for a second equaliser.
Church’s twisting run along the left byline twice left Lees and Lee Peltier bewildered in its wake before the striker’s low centre was forced home by Jackson, who had typically found a yard of space in a congested six-yard box.

The setback was McCormack’s cue to strike again while the Addicks were still basking in their success. Drifting clear as Hamer hesitated in dealing with Luke Murphy’s free kick, he dispatched a venomous volley inside the right post. It was United’s third shot at goal but their hitman wasn’t finished yet.

With the paltry addition of four added minutes proving that artful timewasting pays off, it was cruelly ironic that it was McCormack who used them to score again. Wiggins’ irritated foul on Austin gave the insatiable Scot the opportunity to curl a sumptuous free kick into the top left corner. His fourth goal put a buoyantly overdue spring in the visitors’ step. Their touching return to the rudest of health gave encouragement to us all and should be exhaustively recorded in the pages of Lancet without delay.

Charlton: Hamer, Wilson (Pritchard 86), Morrison, Dervite, Wiggins, Harriott (Kermorgant 67), Cousins, Stephens, Stewart (Sordell 86), Jackson, Church. Not used: Alnwick, Hughes, Evina, Lennon. Booked: Morrison, Wiggins.

Referee: Keith Stroud. Att: 17,601.