Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Easing into Round Two
Swindon Town 0 Charlton Athletic 2Banana skin avoided, as Charlton advanced in the league cup again, beating Swindon 2-0 away.
The scoreline may look comfortable but the first half performance, according to the radio commentary, was not very good in difficult wet and windy conditions. With the wind, in the second half, the Addicks played much beter and Izale McLeod and a rejuvinated Marcus Bent caused plenty of problems. Bent made both goals with knock-downs for Darren Ambrose to fire home the first (left) and for McLeod to be fouled for the second earning a penalty. Andy Reid scored from a re-take after Big Benty had encroached the first time round.
Jon Fortune and Chrissy Powelll started the game, asd did McLeod for his full debut. There were late substitute appearances for Dean Sinclair and Chris Dickson too.
Tactically, the team still seems to lack substance in midfield, with Darren Ambrose going AWOL for long periods. Jose Semedo did well again and had a few shots too. I think that Saturday may see a change in the balance we have seen so far with Zheng Zhi set for his seasonal debut, possibly in place of Ambrose. Andy Reid did well going forward, but again provided little cover for his left back when necessary.
The seaosn is now under way with a win and a draw, and anything but a defeat on Saturday will be a good result for the team.
Solid if unspectacular so far, things are slowly taking shape and starting to gel. We have at least 47 games left this season and there is plenty to play for - many more high (and lows) to come.
Labels: Charlton
