Charlton Athletic should be brushing sides like Doncaster Rovers aside – Chris Solly
Charlton should be brushing sides like Doncaster Rovers aside, according to captain Chris Solly.
The South Londoners were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw as they squandered a succession of opportunities at the Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday. Donny’s Matty Blair snuck in to rescue a point for Darren Ferguson’s men deep into injury time after Charlton had led since Patrick Bauer’s 17th minute opener.
Home goalkeeper Ian Lawlor was tested time and again throughout the contest, but kept Karl Robinson’s men at bay as they searched for a decisive second goal.
“From my point of view, we should be beating teams like this two or three nil,” explained Solly.
“No disrespect to Doncaster, but we’ve come here and they haven’t had a shot. Somehow, we’ve only come away with a point. We should have been 2 or 3 up. The forward boys could have finished the game off and it’s game over.
“We felt so comfortable out there. We got the goal in the first half, shape was perfect throughout the game. We looked solid, we didn’t really every look like conceding. We should have put them to the sword. In the second half we had two or three good chances to finish them off.”
The Addicks rear-guard had limited Doncaster to few chances throughout the contest, and they benefited from a huge slice of luck when Luke McCullough’s deflected shot looped into the path of Blair for the late leveller.
Solly admitted that he didn’t see an equalising goal coming for the hosts.
“I didn’t feel nervous at all today,” he added.
“We looked solid. I didn’t think they were going to score. It’s just fallen to the lad on the edge of the box and like defenders do, three or four of us charged it down. It’s taken a deflection and it’s dropped straight to their lad. On another day that could be an inch to the left, a clean block and it’s probably the end of the game there.
“What can you say about the goal? It’s a deflection followed up and the lad is left alone in the box and nodded it in. There’s a few angry players in the dressing room now, we’re all frustrated.
“We said to [Charlton goalkeeper] Ben (Amos) at the end of the game – he had literally nothing to do all game. We were solid out there, comfortable and got the goal. We almost came away thinking is that the perfect away performance? You get your goal, keep your shape perfect and go away 1-0 with three points. It’s just disappointing again.”
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Maybe it’s Charlton’s arrogance that they can brush teams like Doncaster aside that cost them a win. Say what you like Charlton didn’t get 2 or 3 goals because Doncaster did not let them. Maybe Doncaster are a better team than Charlton think, or Charlton are not as good as their arrogance suggests.
Perhaps Mr Solly will think again before he suggests that Charlton should ‘sweep sides like Doncaster Rovers aside’ What arrogance! Whilst Charlton certainly had the best of the game for long periods, they couldn’t score more than once against Rovers’ excellent keeper and defence to capitalise on their early goal from a set piece. They may well have felt frustrated at the end, but that’s football and Matty Blair pounced on a slim opportunity to rescue a point.
If Amos had spent less time time wasting the game would have been over before doncaster scored.
The same things are said week after week but nothing changes is the training ground just a jolly up or are things actually worked on we will see Tuesday night