Huddersfield Town 1 (Wells 50) Charlton 1 (Vetokele 90).
Kevin Nolan reports from The John Smith’s Stadium.
The unadorned statistics record that Huddersfield and Charlton drew 1-1 in West Yorkshire on Saturday. They earned a point apiece and little else matters. Disputes about right and wrong, not to mention justice or the lack thereof, belong in small claims court and mean nothing after a football match. You get what you end up with, not necessarily what you “deserve.” Never explain. Never apologise. It ain’t nobody’s business but your own, as Billie Holliday pointed out.
So having copped that plea, we’ll proceed to admit that Charlton were outrageously lucky to salvage a precious point from this tepid performance. A series of questionable decisions by referee Tim Robinson, whose heart, if not his home, appeared to lie far south of Huddersfield, palpably favoured them. Besides displaying a holding midfielder’s knack of timely interceptions to break up play (scrupulously for both sides, it must be said), Robinson was otherwise impossible to ignore. And he wasted little time in claiming centre stage.
Fixated on knocking the ball around the back line before proceeding in careful stages through midfield, the Addicks’ defenders have apparently been encouraged to include rookie goalkeeper Nick Pope in a deliberate but highly risky regimen of possession. The Terriers had obviously scouted uncertainty in not only a reluctant Pope but towering centre back Andre Bikey. In Nakhi Wells, they had just the livewire forward to sniff it out.
As Bikey and Pope confused each other on the 18-yard line, Wells neatly relieved them of the ball but was halted in his tracks by the mysterious award of a free kick to the defenders for a foul visible only to Robinson. A few minutes later, Wells again pounced on the dithering duo, Rhoys Wiggins’s weak back pass along the byline made a bad situation worse but Tal Ben Haim’s express train tackle on the pesky nuisance of a striker cleared the danger.
Culpable for Derby’s second goal on Tuesday, Pope hardly needed such distractions. Fortunately, his confidence was restored by the splendid flying save he made from Harry Bunn before another smart stop from the same player completed his rehabilitation. This talented kid’s gonna be fine; stand on it. Igor Vetokele, meanwhile, was Charlton’s bright spark, his venomous volley forcing an equally fine save from Alex Smithies. Before the interval, the jetheeled Angolan featured in the second of Robinson’s key interventions.
Match Report Sponsored By Grant Saw Wealth Management
Having just booked Town captain Lee Peltier for “professionally” tugging back Joni Buyens, the fussbudget official was in no mood to extend the same tolerance to Murray Wallace when the big defender turned the same trick to stop Vetokele as he darted on to George Tucudean’s sublime flick. A clear route to goal was inconclusive but Bikey proved indispensable in convincing Robinson to don the black cap. Off went the highly indignant centre back and the Addicks had their stricken hosts at their mercy. At least, that’s the way it looked.
Five minutes after the break, the depleted Terriers made nonsense of their disadvantage by taking a shock lead. Wide man Sean Scannell’s pass sent Tommy Smith sprinting to the right byline, where Jordan Cousins was out-hustled by the more determined midfielder. Smith centred hard and low, Wells couldn’t miss at the far post. For the first time this season, Charlton trailed. Initially, they made heavy weather of coping with the experience.
Sticking rigidly to their policy of passing from back to front, the Londoners showed few signs of redressing the imbalance. Chances were non-existent as Town made expert work of fragmenting an already disintegrating game with well-timed substitutions and a provocatively slothful approach to setpieces. Their spoiling tactics were spot-on and they might have made the points safe but were frustrated by yet another of Robinson’s highly-charged decisions against them.
Caught flatfooted as James Vaughan cut sharply inside him on the business side of the 18-yard line, Ben Haim’s lusty shoulder barge on the substitute smacked of a penalty, even looked like a penalty but clearly wasn’t a penalty, at least not according to the only chap that mattered. Tim Robinson, remember the name. He was a positive brick to Charlton all afternoon, though he might prudently avoid Huddersfield until local memories fade.
It didn’t seem all that important anyway until, wouldn’t you know it, the Addicks roused themselves for one supreme effort deep into added time. Collecting the ball in the centre circle, Johnnie Jackson made an old pro’s decision to launch it aerially, rather than lay it off short as dictated by the new tactics. Primitive admittedly but highly effective as Bikey, left upfield for just such an eventuality, soared high to head on. Alive to possibilities, Vetokele darted through to tuck a close range finish past the helpless Smithies. Short ball, long ball, they both have their place. When one tactic doesn’t work, try the other. And until one or the other is outlawed, keep your tactical options open.
Huddersfield: Smithies, Peltier (Majewski 60), Wallace, Lynch, Dixon, Coady, Butterfield, Scannell (Hamill 87), Wells (Vaughan 64), Bunn. Not used: Murphy, Ward, Stead, Crooks. Sent off: Wallace. Booked: Peltier, Vaughan, Bunn.
Charlton: Pope, Solly, Ben Haim, Bikey, Wiggins (Church 67), Gudmundsson, Buyens, Jackson, Cousins (Harriott 73), Vetokele, Tucudean (Moussa 56). Not used: Mitov, Wilson, Gomez, Fox. Booked: Wiggins.
Referee: Tim Robinson. Att: 11,333 (432 visiting).