Written By Oscar
Cheltenham 1-3 Charlton
Cheltenham battle Charlton well, but Campbell’s Addick-tive feet help to overcome the resistant Robins.
The first competitive game of the season for Steve Cotterill’s men, seemed to bring about a lot of optimism around Whaddon Road.
Charlton arrived with marquee, new additions like: Nathaniel Chalobah and Billy Koumetio, in the starting lineup, letting Cheltenham know that they would not be taking it easy.
The first ten minutes seemed to reflect this optimism from the home support, with tricky interplay, between Shaun McWilliams and Jonathan Tomkinson down the right, being the main source of problems to the Addicks.
However, the reluctance to advance the ball quickly would soon cost the Robins, with the pace of Charlton on full show, to cut through the midfield, and allow Matthew Godden to net a curling beauty past a helpless Joe Day.
The exact scenario that Cheltenham looked to avoid then occurred, established Championship number ten, Sonny Carey, making a break into the box, and slotting low past Day. This gave the away side a 0-2 lead in the space of two minutes, and any hope of a ‘cupset’ was looking smaller by the second.
A slightly speculative effort from Shaun McWilliams, whistling closely over Will Mannion’s crossbar, reminded the Whaddon Road population that there was still a long way to go, and anything could happen.
However, not a few minutes later, seemingly unplayable winger Tyreece Campbell, unleashed a rather speculative shot of his own; the difference lay in the outcome, as Campbell’s mouthwatering strike, dipped perfectly into Joe Day’s top corner. This will have come much to Matthew Godden’s dismay, as his absolute peach had been one upped by his teammate.
The half time whistle came, much to the pleasure of many Cheltenham fans, who understood the mountainous task it would’ve been to take Charlton down, but largely saw the second half as damage limitation.
To much surprise, Cheltenham came out swinging in the second half, playing with a real belief that the game was retrievable.
A good period of pressure would pay off eventually for the Robins, as a brilliant chance fell to George Miller, who was able to win a corner from the encounter. That corner would be the difference maker, as Miller himself would get on the end of the ball, from Joe Tomlinson, missed by Will Mannion, and head into an empty net, reviving the Robins sense of hope.
A buoyant Whaddon Road, now seemed to reflect the belief and fight shown on the pitch, with a spine-tingling roar echoing around, as fan favourite, Charlie McCann, would see his long-range effort kept out, by a very solid save from Mannion.
Cheltenham managed to maintain control of the game throughout the half, but a fantastic and resolute defensive performance, from centre-back pairing: Lloyd Jones and Billy Koumetio, meant that the Robins wing play into the box, unfortunately never really managed to find any heads to threaten Mannion again.
Charlton had a few late chances of their own, with goalkeeper Wyll Stanway, (who replaced Day on the 65 minute mark), making some really stunning saves to keep the score at a respectable 1-3.
At the full time whistle, there was an atmosphere of real pride amongst the Cheltenham fans, with their team taking on a much bigger side, with a performance to admire.
Charlton’s away fans were happy to advance to Round 2, the short trip to Whaddon being well fulfilled.
Cheltenham will take on Rotherham next, in their first Sky Bet League Two game of the season.
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