The Cherries defend together

There was an anonymous comment put on the blog yesterday, which I did not agree with so I'll share my opinions with you all on the matter. It is always great to see comments on the blog, anonymous or not as everyone has an opinion. The subject concerned the winning goal that Charlton scored against Bournemouth the other night in the dying minutes of the game. The comment was made on my match report post that Yann Kermorgant had decided not to defend the corner and allowed his old team mate and Frenchmen Dorian Dervite to score the goal that gave Charlton their much needed three points.

Yann a Cherry though and through now.

I expect the person who made the comment went to the game as he/she says that Yann had a Charlton shirt underneath his Bournemouth top - something I was not aware of, but if they had been at the game they would have seen that Yann actually made at least two strong defensive headers in our box after he came on that got the Cherries out of trouble. With Yann on the pitch the defensive heading power of the team at set plays like corners and free kicks is stronger and not weaker from what I have seen. The incident in question is one that Eddie Howe will undoubtedly look at closely as he needs to see if it could have been defended better.

Heading practise before last Tuesday's game for the back four,
but everyone has to play their part in clearing danger.

There were quite a few players going up for the ball when it was played in from the left hand corner and while our defenders (three of them it looks like) did not get clean leaps, Dervite did get a bit of a run at the ball which made all the difference. I think it is harsh to appoint blame on any one player as the Cherries defended as a team each taking their player, but when you have a crowd of players it is not always easy to time your leap to perfection and others can get in your way. For once Lee Camp was not as hampered as he had been at Charlton corners early on in the game. On this occasion though he let his defenders try and deal with the cross and he was powerless to react in time to save the powerful header.   

Elliott Ward could be selected again soon for his defensive heading ability.

Elliott Ward is now available again and his heading strength may be an asset that he could feel he needs in the coming games against Barnely or Leeds. However, I felt that Steve Cook and Tommy Elphick won more than their fair share of headers all night against Charlton although their passing by foot on occasion was sometimes wayward on what was a difficult pitch to play on.

What I think Eddie Howe will be more concerned with is the fact that the team started to fall back and concede free kicks and corners late on in the game, which basically invited the Charlton pressure on to them. If it makes any one feel any better QPR suffered the same fate at the Valley only last month so it can happen to the best of teams, but please don't go blaming a player who won several headers for Bournemouth on the night and even took a nasty tumble against the hoardings but carried on any way for the sake of the team. Okay, rant over.    

You can listen to more discussion on the Charlton v AFCB game by listening to Michael Dunne's All Departments' Kangaroo Court by visiting All Departments or by scrolling down the right hand panel on Cherry Chimes to the All Departments' sound bar.    

Charlton steal 1-0 late win over the Cherries (Gallery)

Match Report

Charlton 1 v 0 AFCB

18 March 2014

Attendance: 13,537

Team line up.

There are some days when you have to suffer a sickening defeat and this was one of those nights for AFCB fans. In truth I felt Charlton wanted it more and they are fighting for their lives to stay in the Championship, so I give them full credit for their victory even though it was late in the day in the extreme. After 93 minutes of play, you would hope that your team would defend a corner well to at least come away with a point from a game where you had seen the Cherries almost toy with the home team in the first half hour, but gradually we saw the Cherries have to resort to numerous cheap fouls to keep the Addicks out. In the end there was one corner too many and AFCB travelling fans came away shaking their heads at really a missed opportunity to pick up some points against a team that looked short on confidence. Still, we've had a good run haven't we?

The club shop at the Valley.

More pictures can be viewed on Match Day Gallery.

Eddie Howe made a significant change in leaving Matt Ritchie out of the squad and dropping Mohamed Coulibaly to the bench. Pugh came into the starting eleven along with Ryan Fraser, while Elliott Ward made it back onto the bench. 

Only Elphick missing as usual.

Charlton brought Simon Church, Cousins and Green into their starting line up while Pritchard and Sordell were moved to the bench where they would be joined by new signing Jonathan Obika.

The Cherries got off to a cracking start with Marc Pugh hitting the first shot of the night just over the  right hand side of the goal as early as the first minute and it was soon followed up by a corner for AFCB and then another. Harte saw his shot blocked before Cook tried his luck from distance which Hamer got down to save.

Church was soon trying to get the better of Cook and was ably supported by Rhoys Wiggins - boo boy of the night. Yet it was AFCB who won another corner on six minutes after Francis' strong run. It was the classic Arter step over corner with Grabban left to shoot high and wide.

Charlton's best outlet was Green on the right wing but Ian Harte knew how to play him and when Charlton did get the ball it usually broke down quickly as Elphick and Cook got their tackles in. After a handball from Harriott it was AFCB on the attack and Surman found Arter in some space and his shot was firmly struck from distance but straight at the keeper on 10 minutes.

Charlton responded with a run from Wiggins up the left and he found Harriott who put in a cross that Church just about go a header touch to but it was too faint and wide of the goal. Arter was not having his best game giving the ball away cheaply but Francis won another corner on 12 minutes that the keeper took safely.

A moment later Elphick was at full stretch, but Charlton were luckily flagged offside. The game was starting to see AFCB's passing putting them on top and Grabban was hauled down just outside the box on 16 minutes. Fraser was similarly caught outside the box when threatening on 19 minutes. Grabban and Pugh continued to chase long balls but could not get through to get any shots off.

The next chance fell to Charlton as Harriott found Poyet who passed to Green and his shot was saved low down to Camp's right by the bottom of his right post. AFCB kept stroking the ball around on the sand laden pitch but there best effort at the end of it was a hopeful shot from Surman which Hamer easily coped with. Hamer was also out of his box quickly when he needed to be.

Harte was stopping Green the best way he could which meant a foul on 30 minutes, but AFCB were still looking on top with another corner for them 33 minutes won by Grabban. That was well over hit and Charlton soon had a corner themselves that Cook cleared. While Fraser was picking up free kicks for being fouled there was no end product, Charlton almost went ahead when Green's cross was miss hit and thundered against the left upright of Camp's goal with 39 minutes gone!

Harriott must have picked up an injury as he was subbed on 40 minutes for Obika. The game was being stopped all the time now for little free kicks and it was a bit of a relief when the half time whistle went with the score at 0-0.  

Still no goals!

AFCB come back on for the second half.

Second Half
It was all going to be about getting that first goal. Both sides knew it and while AFCB started well you could soon see what Charlton lacked in skill they made up for in work efforts as they started to close down Bournemouth players better and forced the pace. Francis started his run of fouls in the 51st minute and a second free kick saw Poyet volley over on 55 minutes. Wiggins picked up a yellow card for a foul on Fraser, but the best sight was to see Kermorgant come on after 58 minutes replacing O'Kane which was a bit of a surprise. Straight away the Frenchmen's touch was superb as he linked well with Fraser. Pugh then drifted in from the left and sent a shot just floating over the bar on the hour mark.

Sordell was then brought on for Green which probably pleased Mr Harte and Charlton soon won a corner moments later. There were far too many free kicks at this stage and Grabban gave away another before Fraser was brought down and Harte put a shot over. The humour though came as the wall was being lined up. AFCB fans had been giving Wiggins plenty of stick all game and standing in the wall he pointed to the name on the back of his shirt just in case we had forgotten who to boo - fabulous!

Grabban was subbed on 69 minutes and on came Rantie. The change seemed to put an extra spring in Fraser's stride as he went on a  fabulous run that was well spotted and saw the young Scot race from the right over to the left before firing a shot off at the Charlton goal that was saved. Just after that Yann Kermorgant went up for a header on the right wing and seemed to over do it crashing into the advertising hoardings. He did not get up for a moment or two as play went on, but then he suddenly got up a bit worse for wear before saying to the bench he was okay and needed no treatment. 

Obitka was shown the yellow card on 72 minutes for a foul on Fraser. AFCB were looking for the win still and Francis won a corner off of Jackson, although Elphick's header from it did not trouble the keeper. There was real melee on 80 minutes when Church bust into the box and Camp had to make a good save. Then Cook's clearance hit Francis and the ball rebounded to Jackson but his shot blocked by Cook and it bounced off Francis safely back to Camp in goal. 

Eddie Howe then made a strange sub on 81 minutes giving Adam Smith his debut since resigning for the Cherries as he took off Fraser, Smith coming onto the right wing.

It was Charlton that looked most likely to score now and Poyet had a well hit long shot that Camp had to parry away. Bournemouth's best hope came moments later when a Cook long throw saw the ball bounce in the box but no one got near it in a black shirt and it was cleared.

Some how there was four minutes of extra time when the sheer persistence of Charlton finally payed off. At first they won a free kick and it looked like they had messed up only for Camp to make a good save over the bar. But from the corner Dorian Devite rose highest and scored the winner with a strong header! It was devastating for AFCB fans and sheer ecstasy for Charlton supporters. That was painful!

How did we lose that game?

I'm still singing "Yann Kermorgant" this morning. It must have
been a strange sensation for him being back at the Valley.

Cheerio! Gutted, but a sucker punch well landed by Charlton.  

Summary
Bournemouth ran out of steam in my opinion. They dominated the first half hour and when they did not get that vital goal they found that Charlton could up their game and with a multitude of free kicks something was always likely to happen at some point. Sadly it did right at the end. A point would have been about right because neither team showed enough class in the last third, but Eddie has a few things to ponder over now. The first question will be why have we gone 180 minutes of football without scoring a goal?

AFCB
Camp, Francis, Cook, Elphick, Harte, Fraser (Smith 81), O'Kane (Kermorgant 58), Arter, Surman, Pugh, Grabban ( Rantie 69)

AFCB Subs
Allsop, MacDonald, Smith, Rantie, Kermorgant, Coulibaly, Ward

AFCB Ratings
Camp 6, Francis 6, Cook 7, Elphick 7, Harte 7, Fraser 8, O'Kane 6, Arter 5, Surman 6, Pugh 6, Grabban 6

Charlton
Hamer, Wilson, Wiggins, Poyet, Morrison, Dervite, Church, Green, Jackson, Harriott, Cousins

Charlton Subs
Ghoochanneijhad, Wood, Thuran-Ulien, Nego, Obika, Sordell, Pritchard