Charlton 1 (Stephens 47) 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1 (Wickham 59).
Kevin Nolan reports from The Valley.
It turned out there was a double dose of bad news awaiting Charlton fans at The Valley on Sunday. Following the splendid victory over Brighton on Boxing Day, they had anticipated an unchanged team but instead found it disrupted by the absence of outstanding full backs Rhoys Wiggins and Chris Solly.
Imminent father Wiggins had been given compassionate leave to handle gas and air for the expectant mother, while Solly was prudently rested after returning recently from a four-month lay-off. To lose one full back, it must be said, may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness. I mean, I’m as new a man as the next bloke but there’s a limit. Of course there are more important things than football but be fair… name one!
To a lesser degree of impact, the recovery from hamstring trouble of Connor Wickham was glad tidings for visitors Sheffield Wednesday. Wickham was inevitably on hand to score Wednesday’s equaliser from a position only marginally more onside than the fans behind the goal. Which is an artistic way of saying he was miles offside.
Played on a dreadful pitch, this was an equally dreadful game, one which will slip readily from the memory of everyone unfortunate enough to witness it. Everyone, that is, except Wednesday’s caretaker boss Stuart Gray, who found it beguiling and enthusiastically shared his pleasure with the press afterwards.
It might help to explain that post-match questioning traditionally vacillates between anodyne and asinine, the answer to each question implicit in the question itself. For instance, “You must be pleased by your team’s performance etc, etc” or “Are you disappointed not to have come away with more than a point etc, etc ?” Repetitive waffle most of the time but it stops fights breaking out.
Anyway, Gray went on and on about his team’s total domination, superior mastery of the difficult conditions, better posture and teeth, so forth and so on. He was in full flow until he overstepped the mark in describing Charlton’s goal as ” stupid.” Whoa there, I thought, he’s rubbished the solitary moment of quality on show. I’m not having that. The goal was bloody brilliant so I helpfully reminded him of it. Here’s what happened.
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Wednesday hadn’t switched on following the interval when Lawrie Wilson’s quickwitted throw picked out Dale Stephens, who materialised in the penalty area, kidded Roger Johnson out of his jockstrap by feinting to shoot rightfooted, shimmied to his left and casually flicked the ball over Chris Kirkland’s advancing shoulder with the outside of his right boot. Imaginatively conceived, brilliantly executed, lots of things but not stupid. Just love those quick throws. Should use them more often, as I tried politely to point out for the future benefit of the Owls’ bristling guvnor but he had, by then, moved on to a far more searching question. Honestly, it’s hard to help some people when they take everything so personally.
By contrast, Wickham’s equaliser was scruffy, unlovely and plain illegal. Standing almost under the crossbar as Kieran Lee bundled Chris Maguire’s low cross goalward, the big striker correctly concluded it wouldn’t reach its target and applied a hurrying touch, at which critical point he was blatantly offside. Even Gray admitted that an anxious glance at the linesman was his first port of call before celebrating. Don’t blame him for celebrating, of course.
Though Gray was typically one-eyed, as caretakers often are, it was hard to disagree that Wednesday had been the better of two beleaguered sides who created, between them, less than a handful of chances. For the visitors, Glen Loovens hooked Jeremy Helan’s partially cleared corner on to the bar, Wickham almost embarrassed Ben Alnwick with an accurate 30-yard free kick and Reda Johnson’s point blank second half header was stopped by Alnwick’s feet. Hardly a siege but it shaded the Addicks’ feeble efforts, the best of which have already faded into insignificance.
During an uncomfortable closing quarter hour, in fact, the Owls looked far likelier to snatch a winner, as they did in the corresponding game last season. They were still hopeful of a late winner when, with unexpected drama, Simon Church missed a golden opportunity to claim all three points in added time.
Hardworking as usual, Church managed to get the better of Loovens as they toiled under an awkwardly dropping ball near the 18-yard line. Using a touch to elude the struggling centre back’s attentions, he drew a bead on Kirkland’s goal but blasted harmlessly over the bar. So a draw it was and a draw it remained. And now on to Ipswich on New Years Day, by which time, it’s hoped, Wiggins has mastered fatherhood and Solly has had plenty of rest. We don’t need any more selection shocks.
Charlton: Alnwick, Wilson, Morrison, Wood, Evina, Stewart (Dervite 73), Stephens, Cousins, Jackson (Green 73), Church, Kermorgant. Not used: Pope, Hughes, Sordell, Lennon, Pigott.
Wednesday: Kirkland, Palmer, Roger Johnson, Loovens, Reda Johnson, Maguire, McPhail (Maghoma 54), Semedo, Helan (Nuihu 54), Lee, Wickham. Not used: Martinez, McCabe, Mattock, Llera. Booked: Palmer, McPhail.
Referee: F. Graham. Att: 16,377.