Kevin Nolan’s Match Report: Charlton v Ipswich Town (30/11/2013)

Charlton 0 Ipswich Town1 (Smith 5).

Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.

As an exercise in utter frustration, Charlton will have to look long and hard before finding a better example than this desperately disappointing game. The points were effectively on their way to Suffolk after five of the more chaotic minutes in Valley memory. During the eighty five which remained, nothing of deep significance happened, a state of affairs which suited conservative Ipswich down to the ground. Their work already done and dusted, the visitors felt no pressing need to exert themselves and chose to grind it out. Followers of Charlton on the road might recognise the process.

Into those opening five minutes, though, was crammed enough action to send heads spinning and all of it took place in sleepwalking Charlton’s penalty area. No more than fifty seconds had elapsed when sureshot David McGoldrick was played through to confront Ben Alnwick but was outguessed by the advancing keeper, who turned his low shot away for a right wing corner; Aaron Cresswell’s left-footed delivery was met by Tommy Smith’s head but Alnwick smuggled the ball clear for another right wing corner; Daryl Murphy’s header powered Cresswell’s inswinger goalward but Alnwick again saved magnificently, then miraculously kept out Christophe Berra’s point-blank effort to convert the rebound.

Having singlehandedly stood off the rampant Tractor Boys, Alnwick was entitled to a little support. No such luck. Cresswell crossed over to the opposite flank to pick out Smith with a pinpointed outswinger which left the rampaging centre half the easy task of heading down into the centre of goal. Scarcely a defensive muscle moved; in fact, scarcely a defensive muscle, apart from the overworked Alnwick’s, had moved since kick-off.

It was the mother of all nightmare starts but, to be fair, was completely out of character for a defence which has now conceded a miserly 20 goals in 17 league games. That impressive statistic is undermined somewhat by the miserable total of 14 goals scored at the other end. Five of Charlton’s games had ended 1-0, three of them defeats. Even at such an early stage, this one seemed destined to make it four. And that’s not hindsight talking. A cursory glance through their “chances” tells a depressingly futile story.

Soon after Smith scored, Yann Kermorgant crossed from the left for Dale Stephens to glance a header wide; Rhoys Wiggins set up Jordan Cousins to shoot harmlessly off target; Lawrie Wilson’s hard-driven low cross eluded Simon Church on its untouched journey to the far touchline; on the half hour, Wiggins provided the Addicks’ stand-out attacking moment with a fiercely swerving cross-cum-shot which Dean Gerken awkwardly pawed to safety off his right post. It didn’t exactly amount to a relentless siege.

Ponderous and slow in their build-up, with square and backward passing the order of the day, the second half was similarly dire but let’s again record Charlton’s “highlights.” Johnnie Jackson had a brief sight of goal but hesitated and the fleeting chance was lost; Wilson’s skyscraping centre was awkwardly touched over the bar by Gerken; Cameron Stewart cut in from the left to shoot firmly with his right foot but was foiled by Gerken’s plunging save; Cousins sliced hopelessly wide; Michael Morrison haplessly missed headed contact with Kermorgant’s cross. And in added time, Charlton’s torment was exacerbated by a refereeing howler.

Fussy referee Duncan was perfectly placed to spot the coldbloodedly professional foul, with which Cole Skuse halted Kermorgant’s progress in the centre circle but, with his wits about him, might have sensibly allowed an advantage which ended with Stewart promisingly placed to equalise. His premature whistle instead awarded Charlton a meaningless free kick and proved, beyond reasonable argument, that crime often pays when you know what you’re about. But nothing disguises the inconvenient truth that Charlton were comfortably beaten by an average side which rarely found it necessary to shift out of low gear.

So after Tuesday’s victory over Doncaster, it was a case of an important step forward, followed quickly by another sickening knockback. A knockback which apparently was a tactical triumph for Town boss Mick McCarthy, who watched the Addicks in midweek, wove a cerebral web to ensnare them and delivered a meticulously conceived masterclass, which featured the cunning plan of scoring early, then winning 1-0. Ain’t it great when all your schemes come together, especially scoring early, then winning 1-0?

Here’s another version of events. When you win, you’re a coaching genius; when you lose, you’re a coaching blockhead. Much of what remains is cobblers. It’s all about the result and even though many of us admire the tough, outspoken McCarthy, especially since he was disgracefully abused in 2002 by that quisling whose name, like that of Jesse James’ assassin, doesn’t belong alongside his, let’s not get carried away. Ipswich won. Fair play to them. They were marginally the better of two moderate sides. The work of a Chess Grandmaster it wasn’t. But what a cruel kick in the guts for Charlton it was!

Charlton: Alnwick (correction on the pronounciation, by the way – it’s Ann-ick), Wilson (Sordell 86), Morrison, Dervite, Wiggins, Stewart, Stephens, Jackson (Green 69), Cousins, Kermorgant, Church (Pigott 69). Not used: Pope, Hughes, Evina, Wood. Booked: Morrison.

Referee: S. Duncan. Att: 16,645