Bristol Rovers 1 (Marquis 71 (pen) Charlton 0.
On a sun-dappled afternoon, during which the climate finally pulled itself together, Charlton travelled to Bristol, intent on piling on the misery for Joey Barton’s relegation-threatened Rovers. Kevin Nolan watched from home as a long-time nemesis tore up the script.
With this charmless Good Friday ordeal grinding tediously towards its inevitably scoreless conclusion, Charlton, safe and sound themselves in the bosom of League One, offered a second helpful boost to Bristol Rovers’ determined bid to join them next season. They could hardly have done more than present beleaguered Gas with three crucial points to go with those they contributed at The Valley a week before Christmas. But that’s exactly what they went out of their way to do.
Neither of these earnest but punchless sides had shown any sign of breaking a boring deadlock until the normally reliable George Dobson lent a hand – both literally and metaphorically – to Rovers’ cause. Only he can explain what persuaded him to almost absentmindedly handle an innocuous ball inside his own penalty area, though under no perceptible pressure at the time. To be fair, his error marred an otherwise sound performance by the guilty skipper.
In no mood to squander a golden opportunity was Gas substitute John Marquis, an old adversary whose missed penalty, while in Doncaster Rovers’ colours, was critical in deciding a dramatic semi-final shoot-out in Charlton’s favour almost four years ago. Still nursing a grudge about the abuse he received, Marquis punished two defensive howlers in coming off the bench to score both goals in their 2-1 win in December. It’s safe to say he raises his game against the Addicks.
After replacing Josh Coburn in the 66th minute, Marquis had barely kicked the ball before Dobson’s aberration gave him his chance to be Rovers’ hero. Needless to say, he made easy work of beating Ashley Maynard-Brewer from the spot before donning a huge, imaginary stage moustache in his self-appointed role as Charlton’s go-to villain. What goes around comes around, so they say, and -who knows? – there may, somewhere down the line, be a further sting in the tail of the ex-Millwall striker’s personal war with Charlton.
Back at the Gasworks, meanwhile, Dean Holden’s men seemed intent on proving themselves to be pale, almost invisible, shadows of the rampant side which sunk Shrewsbury Town without trace only six days previously. Unable to break free of the tactical blanket devised by Barton, which restricted the attacking instincts of full backs Steven Sessegnon and Terell Thomas and denied space or time for wing speedsters Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and Tyreece Campbell to turn aggressively and run at them, the visitors were confined to a congested midfield corridor, from which they were unable to escape. It made for an ugly, foul-strewn mess, which suited Rovers and their truculent manager perfectly.
As last Saturday’s champagne offering degenerated into flat brown ale, this defeat continued the inconsistency which has undermined Charlton’s desperately disappointing season. Even their recent four-game unbeaten run featured downbeat 1-1 draws with Accrington Stanley and Wycombe Wanderers, neither of which were results to celebrate.
There was to be no silver lining, meanwhile, to the dark cloud which co-existed with the pleasant West Country sunshine on Friday. The Addicks were solid enough at the back, where they were rarely inconvenienced by their hosts’ feeble forays. Goalkeeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer was largely untroubled before Antony Evans’ fierce effort from outside the penalty area sent him flying to his left to pull off a spectacular save shortly before the interval. The young Aussie was on his way to an incident-free clean sheet until Charlton self-destructed.
At the other end, James Belshaw was hardly any busier. He had no trouble gathering Miles Leaburn’s routine shot after Campbell briefly broke through to the left byline and was indebted to James Gibbons for clearing Leaburn’s late header off the line. There was little else to bother him.
And so this miserable campaign drones on to an eagerly anticipated conclusion. There are motions to be gone through, of course, and Charlton ran through some of them in Bristol on Friday, where Rovers had little to beat. They won because they got the better of the scrappy exchanges, reduced the pitch to a manageable size which suited their purposes and, frankly, wanted it more. On top of which, they had in their ranks a not-so secret weapon with a point to prove and a brightly burning desire for revenge. Charlton’s goose was cooked when Marquis quit the bench.
Rovers: Belshaw, Connolly, Gordon, Finley, Sinclair (Loft 60), Ward, Gibson, Evans (Collins 60), Bogarde, Hoole, Coburn (Marquis 66). Not used:
Anderson, McCormick, Gibbons.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Sessegnon (Kanu 85), Inniss, Hector, Thomas, Morgan (Payne 77), Dobson, Fraser, Rak-Sakyi, Leaburn, Campbell (Bonne 77). Not used: Wollacott, Egbo, Mitchell, Henry.
Referee: Simon Mather. Att: 9,613 (1,159 visiting).