Charlton 0 MK Dons 0.
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
As Charlton bumbled their way to a point which, in their current plight, does nothing to relieve the pressure on them, Jose Riga’s inflated reputation as a survival guru took a battering. His team selection but, more crucially, his curious deployment of substitutes, came into serious question. In a game the Addicks desperately needed to win, the “head coach” hardly distinguished himself with several baffling decisions.
Based on the carnage he had caused -sometimes inadvertently – against Reading and Brentford, YaYa Sanogo was confidently expected to start against MK Dons, those liberty taking cuckoos who invited themselves unasked into Wimbledon’s nest and have still to be accepted as part of the wider football family. Nice stadium though, to be fair, which damns them with faint praise.
Like John Cleese’s revolutionary Reg in Life of Brian, unfortunately, Sanogo’s bad back ruled him out of the action such as it was, his absence understandable until, on 58 minutes, he surprisingly replaced Callum Harriott to widespread dismay. After a so-so first half, marred by his proclivity for running into cul-de-sacs, then resorting to fouls in his efforts to back out of them, Harriott had begun the second session on fire. His aggressive running thrust the visitors on the back foot and, in combination with Yun Suk-Young, he created Charlton’s best chance which Jordan Cousins curled narrowly wide. Boosted by his two goals at Griffin Park, Harriott was showing encouraging signs of taking this game by the scruff of its dreary neck when, abruptly, Riga removed him. His obvious displeasure as ne neared the dug-out, belied the touching father-son relationship romantics have woven around player and manager, as in “Jose really knows how to get the best out of Callum.” And “Callum really responds to an affectionately paternal arm round his shoulder.” It’s probably no more than a family falling-out, though.They’ll make it up in time.
If Harriott’s withdrawal was a tactical gaffe, then the introduction of Sanogo raised quizzical eyebrows. A bad back is, after all, a bad back and was enough to keep Reg out of the Judean Popular Front’s latest bid for freedom. If Sanogo was considered fit enough to play for over 30 minutes, then surely he could have been risked from the start instead of the ineffectual Simon Makienok. And equally surely it should have been Makienok, not Harriott, who made way for him. Say hey, Jose… a couple of bad calls.
And Riga’s reluctance to play Ademola Lookman, what are we to make of that? The ebullient kid erupted from the bench in the 82nd minute to belatedly replace Makienok and proceeded to terrorise the increasingly complacent visitors. Completely incapable of controlling his electric eel trickery, both Kyle McFadzean and Sami Carruthers were panicked into bookings for manhandling the newcomer. Given more time, Lookman showed that he had the winning of this make-or-break game in him. Too late was the cry!
Karl Robinson’s side, meanwhile, made unconvincing efforts to win the game but were clearly satisfied with a point which, once news of Rotherham’s remarkable victory over Middlesbrough came through, lost some of its lustre. Being painstakingly fair again on the Buckinghamshire interlopers, it must be conceded that owner Pete Winkelman’s loyalty to Robinson, despite relegation, serves as an eloquent reproach to the backstabbing treachery of Mad Hatter Roland Duchatelet. Approximately two and and a half years since he sat next to Chris Powell and expressed, in weasel words, his intention to work alongside his manager, he has used and abused not only Powell but one successor (five in all, soon to be six when Riga is shown the door at the end of the season) after another. Charlton have been reduced to football’s laughing stock and are fast disappearing down the Championship rabbit hole. Where they eventually bottom out is a matter for grave concern because League One might turn out to be merely a landing stage on the humiliating way to League Two.
The less said the better, by the way, about this depressing game. Apart from Cousins’ near thing, competent goalkeeping by Nick Pope, which included a smart save from Rob Hall and bravery at Nicky Maynard’s feet to redeem his own potentially catastrophic kicking error, there isn’t much else to report. Flat and listless, the minutes ticked by uneventfully until Lookman stepped in to demonstrate that Mk Dons had little to offer.
Scarcely inspired by the youngster’s example, Sanogo disgraced himself during added time when he resolved a disagreement with Antony Kay by elbowing the defender in front of witnesses, among which was numbered referee Charles Breakspear. That’s the irresponsible Gooner gone for the next three games; so YaYa Sanogoals for the time being then.
We move on without him, of course, with Middlesbrough, keen no doubt to make up for the blip at Rotherham, due at The Valley on Sunday. The Addicks are still alive. There’s still a tangible pulse. And the gap, incredibly, still stands at seven points. Shame there’s now two teams holding that advantage but we’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. It ain’t over till it’s ov…
Charlton: Pope, Motta, Fanni, Teixeira, Fox, Harriott (Sanogo 58), Cousins, Poyet (Bergdich 71), Gudmundsson, Suk-Young, Makienok (Lookman 82). Not used: Mitov, Ghoochannejhad, Holmes-Dennis, Johnson. Sent off: Sanogo.
MK Dons: Martin, Lewington, McFadzean, Kay, Potter, Bowditch (Reeves 61), Carruthers, Baldock, Williams (Hall 54), Maynard (Revell 69), Murphy. Not used: Cropper, Spence, Emmanuel-Thomas, Powell. Booked: McFadzean, Carruthers.
Referee: Charles Breakspear.
Att: 13,146 (532 visiting).