Grecians go away from Valley without any gifts

Charlton are now behind Leyton Orient (who lost at Bolton) only on goal difference after they beat Exeter City 3-0 at The Valley.   It was five wins on the spin in SE7 and nine unbeaten and also the sixth clean sheet out of seven.

Exeter City were outclassed as they slipped to a one-sided defeat.   Goals midway through either half before a late third saw the Grecians beaten 3-0 in a game where they never got going.

Charlton went ahead midway through the first half when a free-kick was turned into his own net by Angus MacDonald. The Addicks were totally in control but found creating chances difficult – but Karoy Anderson missed a sitter when he couldn’t score with a header from inside the six yard box.

Two much criticised players put the game beyond doubt. Tyreece Campbell though doubled the lead in the 68^th minute when he curled home a smart finish from the edge of the box as the hosts finally made their dominance count. Miles Leaburn made it three late on as his individual finish sealed the victory.

Charlton had the first chance inside two minutes when Campbell got on the end of a long ball, but fired wide when he should have scored. A late offside flag partially spared his blushes for the miss. The Addicks had a good shout for a penalty when Joel Colwill appeared to clip Anderson in the box, but referee Andy Davies waved the appeals away.

The Grecians’ first effort saw Ryan Trevitt force Will Mannion into a smart save from a free-kick. But it was a rare foray forward in the early stages at The Valley as the hosts dominated, and in the 20^th minute, they took the lead. Luke Berry swung in a free-kick from the right and Angus MacDonald in his attempt to clear the bouncing ball was the unlucky man who turned it into own net, with nothing Joe Whitworth could do about it.

Berry and Campbell then saw close-range efforts blocked as Charlton looked to extend their lead. Anderson saw a header cleared off the line by Alex Hartridge after a well-worked free-kick as it was one-way traffic for the large part. With 31 minutes gone, alleged drunk driver Niskanen, who had been booked, was replaced by Ryan Woods.

The pattern of the game didn’t change though, with Charlton on top with all the play around the edge of City’s own box, but Nathan Jones’ men weren’t creating much in the way of chances for all the control they had. Campbell poked wide in stoppage-time after a Thierry Small cross which should have made it two at the break. As it was, it was just 1-0.

Campbell picked up the ball 30 yards from goal, the defenders backed off him, and from the edge of the box, he curled the finish into the far corner to double the lead.

In the 84th minute, any faint hope City had was ended with Charlton’s third. Leaburn, off the bench, picked up the ball outside the box and drove into it. He produced two pieces of skill to wrong foot Hartridge and MacDonald, before slotting the finish in off the post.

Six minutes of stoppage-time were added-on, but it was all an irrelevance with the result long since put beyond doubt as City were comfortably beaten.