Charlton Athletic 2 v Yeovil Town 0

As expected, Phil Parkinson made changes to the side that disappointed at Bristol Rovers in front of the television cameras on Monday evening. Sam Sodje was dropped in favour of Miguel Llera and Johnnie Jackson made his home debut at left back for the injured Grant Basey. Predictably enough, Nicky Bailey returned to his central midfield berth alongside Therry Racon and Kyel Reid started out left. With Lloyd Sam providing balance on the left, normal service was resumed with Burton and Mooney up front.


Charlton were on top throughout this match and the result was reflective of our superiority although Yeovil were ambitious going forward and only three good saves from Rob Elliot prevented them from registering a score. Indeed, Sam Willimas had the first goal-scoring opportunity when he got on the end of a good Yeovil break but his shot was saved by the feet of Rob Elliot. Charlton responded with the move of the half as Racon's through-ball was dummied by Deon Burton into the path of Nicky Bailey who ran clear one-on-one with Alex McCarthy. Bailey opted to shoot early rather than taking the advancing keeper on and his shot cannoned off the keeper and over the bar. 


Yeovil had another good chance saved from Williams before Charlton broke the deadlock on the half-hour. Nicky Bailey broke from a Yeovil attack and with plenty of support played a ball through the middle to Kyel Reid who sped into the Yeovil half. With red shirts joining the attack on the left and right, things looked very promising as the three Yeovil defenders back-pedalled. Just as the options to his left looked compelling, Reid took aim and thumped a shot from fully 25 yards which hurtled beyond McCarthy and into the Yeovil net. From the East Stand it looked an unstoppable shot although I was assured afterwards that it was very close to McCarthy and that he should have managed to get something on it. Irrespective, we had the lead and we didn't look like surrendering it after that although Alcock did send a shot narrowly wide before the break.


Charlton were two-up within ten minutes of the start of the second-half as Mooney got on the end of a near-post pull back from Racon to blast a shot high into the net to end the contest. That enabled Charlton to play some decent football, the sort we have been missing badly in recent weeks. The back four played well against a spirited Yeovil side who came for more than the draw. Johnnie Jackson had a quietly efficient debut at left-back and Miguel Llera was impressive at centre-half alongside Dailly. Richardson put in another decent shift although he need to be at his best to compete with a lively Yeovil front-line.


Bailey was quiet in the first-half although he should have opened the scoring but he was much more active in the second period. Racon had a much better match alongside Bailey but he looked like he was struggling with the pace of the game at times. Lloyd Sam could have done more for me today but Kyel Reid showed the way with his goal and a better attacking second-half. 


Upfront Burton and Mooney worked hard. Mooney had the goal and a much busier second-half to show for his efforts. Unusually for us, we only really made the one substitution during the game with Wagstaff getting on for Sam with fifteen minutes left. Semedo did come on for Racon on 90 minutes but that was more about running the clock down than anything else.


So, a much needed home victory on a day when Norwich and Millwall both lost. Leeds managed yet another last-gasp goal to salvage a point from their home match against Brighton and all-of-a-sudden things look much rosier. A second Valley win in four days against Brighton in front of 16,000+ fans will go a long way to settling nerves and putting us in a confident frame of mind for Friday's encounter at Roots Hall. With Stockport to come at the Valley after that, we look like we might just be picking up enough points to reassert our promotion credentials. If we can do that, I suspect other results might just go our way and things could open up for us before we go to Millwall. 


A final word for our supporters today who showed admirable restraint before getting behind the side and cheering them on to victory. More of that on Tuesday might be enough to see us record back-to-back wins once again.