Ipswich Town 6 (Chaplin 7, 14, 70, Ladapo 74, 84), Davis 90+ 5) Charlton 0.
Gamely facing the music after his side had been clobbered at Portman Road by rampant Ipswich Town, a sheepish Dean Holden struck a measured balance between penitence and defiance in attempting to explain the inexplicable. Apparently, his humiliated players had “got away from basics, lost the ball too many times in our own half and would have to take our medicine.” Staying professionally unemotional, he described the crushing loss as an “experience we have to learn from” and concluded “we’ve got to stand up and show our character.”
Charlton’s disillusioned fans, over a thousand of whom had provided raucous support from beginning to end of a painful afternoon in Suffolk, have heard it all before. This particular season has been a sorry tale of inconsistency, its occasional high spots followed by sickening letdowns. At no time have the Addicks come close to joining the candidates seeking to escape this soul-destroying division; there were times, admittedly brief, when they looked more likely to leave it in the wrong direction before they checked their slide and settled as a boring, workaday outfit – becoming in the process a go-to cliche of mid-table mediocrity.
There was nothing boring about this spectacular demolition by Kieron McKenna’s freewheeling Tractor Boys. In fact, their collapse had its comical side, especially in its disastrous opening quarter hour, during which they were clinically cut to pieces by a thorn in many a League One team’s side. It might just as well have been Charlie, let alone Conor Chaplin, whose diminutive figure, twirling an imaginary cane, made mugs of them. Confronting Charlie – er, Conor – was a group of defensive delinquents who meant well but resembled a deputation from the Keystone Kops. They bumped into each other, ran into blind alleys and fell over their own feet as Chaplin ran riot among them.
It took Ipswich’s cocky Little Tramp seven minutes to set Charlton up for the kill and another seven minutes to finish them off. First, he combined with left wingback Leif Davis before dispatching a crisp left-footed shot past Ashley Maynard-Brewer; he then doubled his account with a right-footed finish after exchanging a one-two with Nathan Broadhead. With 75 minutes still to play, this result was already done and dusted. Until its far-off conclusion, unfortunately, the Addicks were put through a sadistic wringer.
Before his two-goal salvo, Chaplin had missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring when he awkwardly headed Sam Morsy’s precise chip over the bar. And immediately after he had made amends, the visitors enjoyed their best spell as Scott Fraser crossed perfectly from the left for Macauley Bonne to direct a deliberate header wide of Christian Walton’s right hand – but not quite wide enough as the keeper saved brilliantly at full length. Walton could only watch, however, while Fraser’s long-range effort swerved narrowly wide of his left-hand post a minute later. And that was about all the Addicks had to offer as an “attacking” force.
Described by Holden as League One’s best side, meanwhile, Ipswich did as they pleased without actually lowering a decisive boom until the later stages of the second half. In front of them were clueless, spineless shadows – mere makeweights as their tormentors toyed with them. Charlton were frankly awful, incapable of controlling, much less passing, the ball accurately. Quite how they blundered through almost another scoreless hour says more about Town’s self-indulgence than it does about their own defensive ability.
Four more goals scored during the closing 70 minutes put the outcome into more accurate perspective. It was kicked off fittingly by the brilliant Chaplin, who completed what was once considered a genuine hat-trick (three consecutive goals) by tapping home Broadhead’s squared pass. His coup-de-grace followed what was Charlton’s solitary contribution to the second session when Jesurun Rak-Sakyi made his first – and only – foray into the Tractor Boys’ penalty area and was brought down from behind by Davis. “Seen ’em given”, mused Holden, who sensibly declined to make more of a marginal decision.
Chaplin’s scoring buddy, Freddie Ladapo, had taken over from George Hirst in the 73rd minute and wasted little time in turning the screw on Town’s floundering victims. His quickfire double was begun by a cool conversion of influential skipper Morsy’s perceptive pass, his second featured physical power and ruthless finishing into the roof of Maynard Brewer’s net.
Charlton’s torture was into a fifth added minute when Davis made it a six-goal rout. By that time Ryan Inniss had received his marching orders for denying Ladapo a chance to complete a second genuine hat-trick by senselessly hauling back the prolific striker as he bore down on goal. Hard to know why he bothered. Shame he won’t be around now to learn from this experience or show his character.
Ipswich: Walton, Davis, Morsy, Woolfeden, Burns (Jackson 73), Chaplin, Burgess, Luongo (Ball 78), Hirst (Ladapo 73), Broadhead (Edwards 73), Clarke (Donacien 65). Not used: Hladky, Harness. Booked: Woolfeden.
Charlton: Maynard-Brewer, Egbo (Sessegnon 60), Inniss, Hector, Thomas, Morgan (Kane 73), Dobson, Fraser, Rak-Sakyi (Henry 81), Bonne (Leaburn 66), Campbell (Kanu 73). Not used: Wollacott, Kilkenny. Booked: Hector, Dobson, Inniss (2) sent off.
Referee: S. Barrott.. Att: 29,011 (1,113 visiting).