Poor defending leads to home defeat

Charlton's poor home run continued with a 2-3 defeat by Gillingham at The Valley this afternoon.   It was the sixth home game without a win.

The Addicks didn't have a lot of luck with Chuks Aneke being harshly sent off on 69 minutes.  However, poor defending could be blamed for all of the three Gills goals.

Lee Bowyer argued that the defeat came down to the red card and a poor start.  'There's not much I can really criticise.  The second goal [for Gills] was a great strike.  We were on top for a lot of the time.  We competed well.  Their staff were intimidating the officials, they do that.'  

Bowyer added, 'It's a contact sport, it's becoming not a contact sport.  When we went down to 10 men we fought hard.  Chuks said I tried to win the ball.  It's a foul, but not a yellow card.'

With Rob Lee featuring in the Valley Pass build up, it was inevitable that his son would score, but not within the first minute.   A wayward header from Oshilaja let Lee in. Bowyer said, 'It was the last place you should head it.'

Charlton made an instant response.  Aneke got past the keeper, but the ball was cleared off the line.  On five minutes he hit the woodwork.

Gillingham nearly went 2-0 up after they powered down the left and nearly scored from the corner.

Forster-Caskey made a good run and Millar also ran well, but the final ball was lacking.   Then a good delivery from Millar saw Aneke hit the post.   On 14 minutes Millar pounced on a mistake in the Gills defence and Aneke made it 1-1.

A tussle in front of the Gills bench saw the horizontally challenged Evans shouting and the referee had a word with him, but no more.

A fierce shot from Darren Pratley was tipped over the bar.  Forster-Caskey went down with a hamstring problem on 25 minutes and DJ replaced him.

Aneke won Charlton a corner, but Shinnie's effort was poor.

Charlton had been on top since the equaliser, but suddenly the visitors started to apply pressure.  I'm never quite sure why matches suddenly turn in that way.  Pearce lacked pace in defence and Amos was out of his goal, but Purrington pounced from nowhere to make a key defensive intervention.

Pratley had to concede a corner, Oshilaja cleared initially but the defence started to panic and Ogilvie had the space to put in a screamer.  It was a great strike that left Amos with no chance.

In three minutes added on, Shinnie put in a good effort but it took a deflection and just led to an unproductive corner.

HT: 1-2.

On 50 minutes DJ won a corner and Shinnie turned provider for Stockwell who scored with a header to make it 2-2.

Gillingham were being given too much space, but fortunately Akinde's effort went wide.

A Gills free kick in a dangerous position was cleared with a header.  Bonham saved from Aneke.  I was still concerned about how much space the visitors were being given.

The referee had already warned Chuks Aneke and he was given a yellow card for running into Tucker.  He needed to be careful, but two minutes later he received a second yellow.  It was harsh, but consistent with current interpretations of the rules.

Tucker received a yellow card for a foul on DJ.  The visitors kept obstructing free kicks and finally McKenzie received a yellow for his efforts in this respect.

Oshilaja got a yellow card for simulation which I do not think was justified.  So did Lee Bowyer and he got a yellow card for his complaints.

Lee had a shot off the crossbar.   Millar and Purrington then retreated as Dempsey advanced, allowing him to advance into the penalty area and score.  Bowyer thought that the team was running out of legs.

Schwartz replaced Purrington.   DJ shot with his weaker left foot and his effort was tipped over.  With four minutes added on, Morgan replaced Pratley.   Charlton should have had a corner, but only got a throw in.  Pearce received a late yellow card.

Many games were postponed, but Sunderland beat Doncaster 4-1 to push Charlton down to 7th.