Charlton Athletic vs Burton Albion

Hi everyone,

Hope you’re all well.

On Monday 10th April 2022, I attended Charlton Athletic vs Burton Albion in a League One fixture at The Valley in South London for some bank holiday football.

I do briefly need to mention the superb performance from Palace away at Leeds on Sunday where they won 5-1! When we went 1-0 down, I thought the worst, but their second half performance was absolutely incredible. Michael Olise had one of his best games ever for us, Jordan Ayew got a brace and Ebere Eze is getting back to his previous form under Roy I really hope this exciting form continues for the Eagles!

Despite being to The Valley around five times for multiple reasons I had never before seen Charlton play, with Crystal Palace academy player Jesurun Rak-Sakyi being on loan there it was a perfect time to tick another first off, along with this being my first League One match. The 19-year-old has had 19 goal involvements this season so far, 13 goals and 6 assists, more than any other U21 player in England's top four tiers and has earned a nomination for EFL Young Player of the Season. Charlton centre back Ryan Inniss also came through the Crystal Palace academy before leaving permanently to join the Addicks in 2020, so it was nice to see him doing well too!

We travelled from Wembley and if it wasn’t a bank holiday weekend it would’ve been a very straightforward journey, but due to part underground closures and lack of accessibility at stations it was the complete opposite of straightforward! A journey which should’ve taken an hour 15, ended up taking nearly 3 hours on a day England experienced nearly every possible weather!

Dean Holden’s Charlton went into the game 12th in the Football League One table. They have had an inconsistent season but were unbeaten in their last three home games scoring a whopping 6 past Shrewsbury last time out. Their last result was a 1-0 loss to Bristol Rovers 3 days prior to this game.

Their opponents Dino Maamria’s Burton Albion are in an ongoing relegation battle with the bottom of league one looking like the Premier League! With that being said they were unbeaten in 4 of their last 6, though their losses were heavy defeats from teams at the top of the table. Their last result was a 2-1 win over Barnsley, so both teams had reasons to be confident going into the game.

A first half brace from Jesurun Rak-Sakyi saw Charlton extend their unbeaten home run with a 3-2 win over Burton Albion.

Charlton started the game brightly and it only took eight minutes to get the opening goal. Crystal Palace loanee Jesurun Rak-Sakyi made a driving run towards the edge of the box, he faked a shot with his stride left sending the Burton defender sliding before cutting onto his right where there was room for him to bury the ball in the far side of the net for his 13th Charlton goal!

Charlton continued to apply pressure and just nine minutes later their lead had been doubled. Yet again it was Rak-Sakyi on the scoresheet, the 20-year-old made a good run through the centre towards the box taking the ball in his stride from a Scott Fraser pass, he got around his defender before finishing his shot after coming up against the keeper one on one.

Burton didn’t have their first shot until the 25th minute, this came after a good spell of putting the home side under some pressure, disappointingly for them the final header was straight at Charlton keeper Ashley Maynard-Brewer.

Charlton looked solid in defence and comfortable on the ball playing some impressive one touch football looking to play up the field, centre back pairing Ryan Inniss and Michael Hector both had stand out performances in the first half.

Burton had another strong spell as the half came to a close. They did manage to find a way back into the game, Maynard-Brewer came to collect a cross in from Jasper Moon but spilled the ball leaving an open net for Samuel Joseph Hughes to finish into, making the score 2-1 going into the break.

Charlton again started the second half brightly, their 19-year-old number 43, Tyreece Campbell was a standout player and it’s very surprising to learn he is only in the team due to injuries. He, along with Rak-Sakyi (although far less in the second half) provided pace on the wings as Charlton looked to sit deep and try to pounce on counter attacks.

Campbell was involved in Charlton’s third goal of the game. The young Englishman made a driving run towards the biline before trying to pick out a teammate in the box, the initial pass was blocked by Conor Shaughnessy but only into the path of Macauley Bonne who was able to poke the ball into the back of the net and extend Charlton’s lead.

After the third goal Burton’s heads didn’t drop, instead they had a lot of possession in Charlton’s defensive half searching for an equaliser.

Charlton had a chance of their own on the hour mark. A long shot from outside the box looked simple for Burton keeper Craig MacGillivray but the ball went under his hands, he took the pace out of the ball leading to it stopping before reaching the line with no man in red there to follow it in.

Similarly to the first half Charlton tried to hit Burton on the counterattack but this time the away side was more responsive.

Burton was rewarded for the amount of possession they had with a goal 15 minutes before the end. A corner was put back into the mix by a header from previous goal scorer Hughes who had got away from his defender, the ball was then met by the head of Josh Walker who did put the ball over the line despite it being immediately cleared.

3-2 with 15 minutes remaining meant a very nervy end for Charlton as they looked to hold on to the 3 points.

Burton came close to an immediate equaliser with number 21 Mustapha Carayol tricking his way through the box, but his shot was only met by the side netting. Carayol, who came on as a substitute, also put a long shot just wide of the post as he looked to make an impact.

Despite Burton dominating the ball and looking the more likely to score another Charlton still looked dangerous on the attack with Campbell causing some issues for the visitors.

Rak-Sakyi came close to getting a hattrick with an air bound volley, but his effort went over the bar.

As the forth official announced 5 minutes of added time substitute Jack Payne was sent off for a second yellow leaving Charlton under even more pressure to hold on.

A great diving save from the Charlton keeper right at the end saw Joe Powell’s shot blocked and the Addicks leave with the three points in a 3-2 victory.

It was great to see Jes Rak-Sakyi get himself a brace and play well, he still has a bit to learn and add to his game but I’m very excited for his return to Selhurst Park next season! Charlton now sit 10th in the table whilst Burton slip to 18th with only 5 games remaining.

My next game is Crystal Palace vs Southampton away on Saturday, so look out for that post!

Thank you for reading.

Ellie Xx