Charlton lose on penalties

I went to see my GP this afternoon and he said 'We had better not talk about Charlton.'  He then told me about his forthcoming trip to Lisbon to see Manchester City in the Round of 16 and his hopes to be in St. Petersburg for the final.  I had to confess that we were away at Hartlepool in the pizza trophy.

Poor Charlton defending allowed Hartlepool to spring the offside trap and score an early goal with a chip over MacGillivray.

Charlton were a bit slow and sloppy in possession.  Purrington put a good ball into the box, but it came off Washington's chest.

On 16 minutes Burstow equalised with a header after good work by Conor Washington.

MacGillivray found a shot difficult to deal with and Pearce had to clear it for a corner.  The Hartlepool effort was just over the bar.

Some confused defending led to another home corner.   In subsequent play Hartlepool won another corner and then another which MacGillivray caught.

Leko put in a great cross from the right, Purrington got something on it and Gilbey had to turn sharply to drill it home to make it 2-1 to Charlton.

MacGillivray had to save a fierce shot from distance which was straight at him.   He then had to beat away a shot from Crawford.   Then a shot was just wide raising questions about the space given by the Charlton defence.

HT: 1-2

Purrington received a yellow card for a foul, arguably just a collision.

On 69 minutes Aneke and Blackett-Taylor came on.  Burstow and Leko went off.

MacGillivray had to make a quality save after Hartlepool broke.

Hartlepool then had acres of space to equalise, Charlton were very slow to react.

Watson and Morgan came off and Clare and Lee came on.   Purrington came off and Castillo came on for his debut.

It went to penalties.   Hartlepool scored all their penalties and Washington, Gilbey, Clare and Aneke scored for Charlton, but Lee's effort was saved.

Charlton put out a strong team, but Hartlepool were often given too much time and space.  They also provided some good football.