Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Nuhiu 3, Maguire 8) Charlton 3 (Sordell 10, 43, 63).
Kevin Nolan reports from Hillsborough.
It ain’t over yet but a marvellously opportunistic hat-trick from the smoking gun of Marvin Sordell put significant daylight between Charlton and the six poor beggars struggling below them to escape the Championship’s relegation morass.
Sordell’s scoring burst, which makes him top league marksman with six goals, could hardly have been better timed. It not only made mincemeat of laidback Sheffield Wednesday but put paid to the lurking suspicion that the shot shy Addicks would be hard pressed to score again this season.
At 3.08 Hillsborough time, the odds against shellshocked Charlton getting anything from this apparently ill-starred game had slipped off the odds chalkboards. They had sleepwalked to a 2-0 deficit, were being picked apart with contemptuous ease and seemed in danger of complete meltdown. The unthinkable spectre of League One loomed large but, inspired by left winger Callum Harriott’s lively example, the visitors miraculously pulled themselves back from the brink of collapse.
Busy and committed, Harriott launched the revival by flighting a peach of a pass which neatly bisected ponderous Owls defenders Miguel Llera and Jeremy Helan. Outpacing Llera, then brushing aside Helan, Sordell broke clear to finish coolly into the bottom left corner. Though Charlton were still staring down the barrel of likely defeat, the immediate crisis had been averted. Atdhe Nuhiu helped their cause by tamely poking wide a clearcut chance to restore Wednesday’s two-goal lead but the early storm had abated without irretrievable damage.
The defending which helped Wednesday to start strong was lamentable. Let’s deal with it honestly. For the first setback, normally reliable Michael Morrison might have been blinded by a strong South Yorkshire sun in coping with Llera’s hopefully lobbed ball over the top. As the ball cleared the centre back’s straining head, Nuhiu allowed it to bounce before blasting an unstoppable volley across Ben Hamer and in off the far post. Though beaten from a narrow angle, Hamer was given no chance by the sheer velocity and placement of the shot.
Five minutes later, Wednesday doubled their advantage. Picking up possession just inside Charlton’s half, Nihiu ran strongly before passing square to Chris Maguire near the penalty spot; though the winger momentarily slipped, he was allowed time to recover his balance, sidestep Chris Solly, then curl a deliberate drive into the same corner favoured by Nihiu.
As nightmare starts go, this one belonged in a class of its own.
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Lifted by Sordell’s prompt reply, the Londoners settled down. Nuhiu did his bit by missing another acceptable opportunity when well placed, then substitute Jermaine Johnson’s determined run into the penalty area was halted by Dorian Dervite’s shuddering tackle. It was no longer one-way traffic, though, and Sordell should have made more of the opening he made for himself by allowing a throw-in from Morgan Fox (one of five outstanding ex-Academy starters) to run across him but shot feebly at Chris Kirkland. Charlton’s encouraging rally was beginning to stall when, three minutes from the break, they produced another surprise for the flagging Owls.
With the bit between his teeth, Harriott again provided the creative spark behind his resurgent side’s equaliser. Intercepting Michail Antonio’s lazy pass, his carefully judged through pass sent Sordell through to beat Kirkland with a carbon-copy of his first goal. Having settled back to enjoy a pressure-free, end-of-season romp, the home fans were speechless. They had no way of knowing they were in for more of the same in the second period, bless ’em.
Midway through an understandably quieter half, Nuhiu lost his bearings while facing his own goal and passed vaguely back in the direction of his startled centre backs. Seizing alertly on the gift, in-the-groove Sordell left Llera in his slipstream, made ground and chose his time to slot calmly past the advancing Kirkland. His exemplary finishing made all the more inexplicable a chronic inability to find the net with any regularity prior to these overdue Easter Monday heroics.
Sordell’s clinical sniping apart, there were other heroes of Hillsborough. Shaking off his usual diffidence, Harriott made a nervy start but proved to be Wednesday’s nemesis with two fine assists and a performance of verve and imagination. Fox the rookie was cool and resourceful, Dervite an indomitable defensive rock, Jordan Cousins provided his customary energy. But it was the remarkable Diego Poyet who held it all together with yet another of his dynamic midfield contributions. Snapping into tackles, spraying passes short and long, generally calling the tune, his influence throughout the team has become profound. Last into action but far from least in impact, Astrit Ajdarevic arrived ten minutes after the interval to lend style, poise and indispensable quality. No speed merchant but a confident foot-on-the-ball operator, he stamps his class on earnest games like this. And you can’t really legislate for class. More must be demanded of the big, strolling stylist – hopefully in next season’s Championship. ‘Cos it looks as if that’s where Charlton are staying.
Wednesday: Kirkland, Lee, Llera, Coke, Palmer (Mattock 46), Antonio (Johnson 46), Maguire, Onyewu, Nuhiu, Helan, Best (Lavery 67). Not used: Martinez, Taylor, Corry, Afobe. Booked: Helan, Maguire, Lee.
Charlton: Hamer, Solly, Morrison, Dervite, Fox, Cousins, Poyet, Jackson, Harriott (Wilson 81), Church (Ajdarevic 54), Sordell (Obika 90). Not used: Thuram-Ulien, Ghoochannejhad, Wood, Petrucci. Booked: Morrison.
Referee: Tony Harrington. Att: 20,557.