Brentford 1 (Smith 85) Charlton 1 (Vetokele 64).
A point away from home on opening day normally justifies quiet satisfaction. And Bob Peeters won’t be displeased with either this result or Charlton’s performance at sardine-packed Griffin Park, where up-for-it Brentford were seeking to ride the wave of optimism which carried them out of League One last season. These newly promoted sides can be awkward handfuls until their novelty wears off and stark reality asserts itself.
Unfortunately, Peeters and a sparky, densely populated away end possibly quit the scene with the gnawing feeling that their useful point wasn’t quite reward enough. They will be haunted by the chance spurned by Callum Harriott with 12 minutes left which, if converted, would have finished off the game West Londoners and earned them all three. Leading 1-0 at the time, it was almost inevitable that the Addicks would live to regret his miss. Not to mention, while on the subject of misses, the wastefulness shown by by George Tucudean in hitting the legs of advancing goalkeeper David Button when played clear by Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s glorious first half pass.
Harriott’s opening was engineered by Igor Vetokele, one of seven starters making their Charlton debuts (Franck Moussa was introduced in added time to make it eight) whose unfamiliarity will eventually dissipate but who for the time being are virtual strangers. Football teams usually change through a subtle process of natural selection, involving the constant replacement of age by youth, with one door opening as another closes. Fans hardly notice it happening. This latest Charlton team, on the other hand, is the result not so much of osmosis but whatever the scientific opposite of osmosis happens to be. This current side hasn’t evolved. It’s more the product of reconstructive surgery. But it might work.
Sharp, mobile and competitive, Vetokele was, by a distance, the pick of the newcomers. Subdued during a first half mostly dominated by Brentford, he nonetheless caught the eye and came into his own after the interval. His first strike in Charlton’s colours was the clever downward header which sent Chris Solly’s fine cross back across David Button in text book fashion but was brilliantly tipped on to his left post by the goalkeeper’s plunging save. Hardly a towering centre forward, the 24 year-old Angolan international is deceptively good in the air, as he demonstrated in giving the Addicks a 64th minute lead, by beating Button to Johnnie Jackson’s wickedly inswinging corner and nodding past the outwitted keeper from close range.
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While the Bees were still coming to terms with a perceived sense of injustice, Vetokele’s ceaseless industry conjured the critical chance for lively substitute Harriott. Ruthlessly closing down a dawdling Button outside the penalty area, he winkled the ball clear for his teammate to shoot first time at an unguarded goal. Possibly hitting the ball too cleanly, Harriott’s drive bounced to safety off the underside of the crossbar and was collected by the desperately retreating Button. Time was already running out on Sam Warburton’s spirited side but a turning point had been reached. These Bees were still carrying a sting.
Enlivened by their escape, Brentford pressed for an equaliser and, with five minutes remaining, rode their luck in finding one. A suspicious hint of handball helped 78th minute substitute Tommy Smith to control a pass to the left of the visitors’ goal before a treacherous deflection off Talal Ben Haim sent his right-footed snapshot spinning past a wrongfooted Stephen Henderson. Shrewdly acquired by Warburton shortly before the season kicked off, the streetwise veteran would dispute any suggestion of luck, instead pointing out that fortune favours those willing to chance their arm in unpromising circumstances. He’s been doing it so for long now that it wouldn’t pay to argue with him.
However lucky Smith’s goal was, the force was with the home side in the waning minutes. South London hearts were almost broken when Jackson’s anxious foul on Nick Proschwitz gave busy midfielder Alex Pritchard an opportunity to nick the points from a perfectly located free kick. Henderson was well beaten as the ball clipped the bar on its way to safety. Before the whistle, Smith blasted a last kick chance wildly into the crowd.
Another of the new arrivals to impress, Henderson did his bit with two vital saves to keep Charlton level before Vetokele scored. His impressive first half acrobatics kept out Judge’s dangerously deflected effort before, in the second period, he duplicated Button’s save from Vetokele by diving to his left to turn aside Andre Gray’s accurately aimed header.
As yet another debutant at roasting Griffin Park, Peeters will hopefully sift more positives than negatives from a testing afternoon. He’s seen it all and he won’t need to be told that if you don’t take your chances, it costs you. But at least Charlton made chances, something you couldn’t often say last season. And in taking one of them, Igor Vetokele is already on his way to a rewarding relationship with his new fans. They can really work with that first name!
Brentford: Button, McCormack, Craig, Tarkowski, Bidwell, Dallas, Pritchard (Smith 78), Douglas, Odubajo (Tebar 46), Gray (Proschwitz 67), Judge. Not used: Lee, Dean, Yennaris, Moore. Booked: Douglas.
Charlton: Henderson, Solly, Bikey-Amougou, Ben Haim, Wiggins, Gudmundsson (Fox 90), Buyens, Jackson, Cousins (Moussa 90), Vetokele, Tucudean (Harriott 62). Not used: Pope, Wilson, Morrison, Pigott. Booked: Buyens.
Att: 9,619