Saturday, October 22, 2005
Wide Boys win it
Portsmouth 1 Charlton Athletic 2Charlton won on the road again, their fifth away victory on the trot, after coming from behind against Portsmouth. This was the first time in 33 games that Charlton have won after falling behind, and continued Charlton's amazing 100% away form in the Premiership. The goals, both courtesy of superb passes from Danny Murphy, came from wingers Darren Ambrose and Dennis Rommedahl.
With Alan Curbishley having a pretty full squad to choose from, he decided to make two changes and start with a whole new left side - Chris Powell was dropped/rested, as expected, and Jerome Thomas missed the game through a slight thigh injury picked up in the game on Monday against Fulham. Jonathan Spector started his first Premiership game for Charlton at left back, and Darren Ambrose came in for his second start of the season at left wing, and his first start since being sent off on the opening day game at Sunderland. Changes to the bench saw Dean Kiely as sub goalie for the first time this season, and Jonatan Johansson joining Bothroyd, Hughes, and El Karkouri as substitutes.
Portsmouth started much the brighter, Laurent Robert hit the outside of the post early on, and took the lead after 15 minutes - Dario Silva outpacing Hermann Hreidersson and volleying low past Anderson from a tight angle. Ref Howard Webb then booked Kishishev (his third of the season) and big Hermann for rough challenges, as Charlton tried to breathe life into their play. The midfield was very crowded though, and Smertin and Murphy found no space or rhythm. Ambrose did fire off a couple of good shots, but both were saved by the Pompey keeper. Half time approached and Charlton were lucky to go in just one goal down.
The second half was much better, with Charlton seeing much more of the ball. Anderson made one excellent save to deny Portsmouth a second goal after Charlton's defence had gifted the ball back to them inside the penaly area. After an hour, Murphy slipped in Ambrose and he finished with aplomb, and fifteen minutes later Dennis smashed home the winner. Other late chances fell to man-of-the-match Ambrose, sub Johansson, and Smertin, but all missed the target. Chris Perry was unluckily booked late on for a challenge on Robert, although it looked to me like he played the ball well before he kicked the Frenchman high in the air!
Darren Bent had a much better game than of late, running hard and holding the ball high up the pitch, but he did not have any clear chances to score. Ambrose and Rommedahl saw plenty of the ball, and were threatening throughout. The midfield wrestled control of the game the longer it went on. The defence looked fragile at times, with Spector anonymous during the first half. Anderson was worked much harder than he has been of late, and he made several good saves. JJ came on for Dennis, and the Elk for Murphy as Curbs tried to shut out the match.
The win, which equals a club record of consecutive away wins for the top division, takes Charlton back into second place in the Premiership, above Spurs and Wigan on goal difference, and eight points behind runaway leaders Chelsea.
The victory also added further shame on BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson who had astonishingly predicted a Portsmouth win.
On Wednesday, the Premiership's top two will do battle in the third round of the Carling Cup at Stamford Bridge. The players seemed a little more concerned with next Saturday's game against Bolton after this win than the midweek cup match, so it will be interesting to see who Curbs picks for the game against the cup holders and Premiership Champions.
