Today's match at the Pirelli Stadium neatly summarised our contradictions and frustrations so far this season and points to why it may all end in disappointment once again come May.
On the back of some rare Cup success, a thousand buoyant Charlton fans rolled into Burton expecting to see us make quick work of the league's whipping boys who had conceded 37 goals prior to the game. After surviving the initial 15 minute aerial assault, we began to find our feet and play out of defence. Sessegnon was having a good day down our left and Tyreece Campbell was an early willing runner in front of him. Scott Fraser was mopping up Dobsonesque and Rak-Sakyi was loitering with intent on the right.
Amidst all that, it was Ryan Innis who poked a ball through the Burton defence to let 'striker' Charlie Kirk in on goal. Kirk took a touch and squeezed a left foot shot across Sinisalo in the Burton goal and inside the far post for the lead. Ten minutes later and he had the visiting fans in raptures as he ran onto a Stockley glance and lifted the bouncing ball over the advancing keeper. Two-nil and we were home and dry. Weren't we?
No, this is Charlton and we don't do that. Burton had been closing us down fairly well and getting in crosses with relative ease whenever they got a chance. It was no great surprise then when Deji Oshilaja got on the end of a fine whipped delivery minutes later to thump a header beyond Craig McGillivray, who was starting instead of Wollacott who injured a finger in the warm-up. Oshilaja really relishes playing against us as if he has something to prove.
Burton jumped at their chance and put us under pressure for the remaining seven minutes of the half. We really don't help ourselves either in these situations. We should have gone long ball at 2-0 and forced Burton to defend. Instead, we continued to try to play out from the keeper with Burton loading our bases. The pressure simply invited them on and their equaliser was a defensive disaster. Innis and Lavelle were miles apart with no support in front of them. Burton simply played in from the right and a fluffed clearance fell to full-back Hamer who had time and space to take a touch and volley past McGillivray.
Two-two at half-time and you knew what was coming. We started the second-half with Garner's words ringing in our ears and we pinged the ball around in search of an opening for ten minutes. However, we were not moving it nearly quickly enough and it smacked of an over self-confidence that the goal would simply come. It didn't and when Burton got back on the front foot, our centre collapsed in front of the advancing Victor Adeboyejo who hammered a shot into our top corner.
I was on the verge of a heart-attack for fifteen minutes after this as Burton surged forward seeking to kill the game off - like we should have done at 0-2. McGillivray made a couple of decent stops and turned three or four efforts over the bar. We were hanging on and still ambling forward casually when we got the opportunity. Our substitutions finally got into the game and towards the end we came back into it with Blackett-Taylor now skinning Hamer every time he got a run on him and Chuks threatening in the centre. The equaliser, when it came was another surprise as Rak-Sakyi got in to repeat Kirk's second with a cheeky lob after a fine through-ball from Aneke who had picked-up in midfield.
Inevitably we were hanging on in added time but we did just enough to take a point.
Kirk was probably man-of-the-match for his brace but Sessegnon did the most positive work for me over 90 minutes. It was good to see Forster-Caskey finally make a league game this season although his contribution was minimal.
I have said it repeatedly but it was glaringly obvious again today - we really lack on field leadership when it comes to the crunch. We often go missing for ten minutes when we need to be making a real impact - like after we have scored or when we have conceded. We also need to develop a better planned tactical response in certain situations. Continuing to try and play the ball out from the back is admirable but when your opposition is in your face and fighting for possession, you really need to go long and force them back in numbers to restrict their ability to press. If your keeper pumps a couple of successive balls downfield, the opposition will quickly abandon the press if they suspect they will be by-passed.
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