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CHARLTON v MIDDLESBROUGH BRIGGSY'S ANALYSIS
Lady Luck is an Addick.
Boro looked to continue their rich vain of form against Charlton today, but Lady Luck certainly wasn't sat in the away end. Boro made nine changes from the Roma game and lined up as follows: Schwarzer, McMahon, Ugo, Francky, Pogo, Maccarone, Doriva, Parlour, Taylor, Johnson and the lone striker Viduka.
The game took a while to get going but the first real opportunity came on fifteen minutes when a cross from the right from Doriva found Viduka, but his shot from six yards out was directly at Thomas Myhre. Boro came forward again with a run down the left from youngster Adam Johnson who played a ball to Ray Parlour, who then forced a great save out of the Charlton keeper.
Charlton's first real break away came on twenty-five minutes when Bent evaded the Boro back-line and found himself in a one-on-one situation with Andrew Davies, who made a fantastic tackle. Boro continued to take the initiative when Doriva had good vision to pick out Maccarone but his touch evaded him.
Johnson was causing all sorts of problems down the Charlton's left hand side, which saw Charlton's captain Luke Young cautioned. Mark Viduka took a free kick on the half hour mark, which was won through a great run from Johnson. The free kick was a poor one, hitting the wall before eventually the Charlton keeper gathered the ball.
Again Johnson was terrorising the Charlton defence and won a free kick twenty-two yards out, just off central. But again another poor free kick, this time from Queudrue, didn't test the Charlton keeper. We finally had the ball in the net just before the break from a Maccarone effort, but it was rightly given offside. It would have given us the lead we deserved.
It was no surprise that Charlton had had three successive 0-0 draws prior to this game. They seemed very lacklustre in the final third and at half-time were fortunate to be still in this game. But at this level you can't afford to keep missing chances because you will get punished. No changes from Boro at half time whilst Charlton brought on Jerome Thomas, who proved to have an instrumental role in the outcome of the game.
Boro started the second period just like they did the first - with a dinking run from Johnson down the left which again ended in him being upended by Luke Young. Young was going to have to be careful because he had already been booked, another foul could have well seen him take an early bath. Charlton seemed to be lacking ideas but eventually came into the game and created a goal scoring opportunity when a throw in from the right saw a header from Darren Ambrose flash just wide.
Charlton were starting to gain a bit of momentum and coming more into the game. But they were yet to really test Schwarzer. Davies made an important interception from a Jerome Thomas cross which resulted in a poor shot from Hermann Hreidarsson. Davies was putting in a good performance since coming on for Tony McMahon who had gone off injured early on. Davies was again called into action when Matt Holland was shaping himself for the shot but the Boro defender made an excellent block.
Charlton were first to take a hold of the game with their first real effort on target. The goal came from a Chris Powell cross, Pogo was beaten in the air by Darren Bent who directed his header downwards into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. It was a cruel blow, but that's the price you pay for not capitalising on your better first half performance. It was the first domestic goal we had conceded in nine hours and nine minutes of League football.
But we deservedly hit back with a wonderful effort from the Aussie Mark Viduka. He received the ball thirty yards out and flicked it over his head turning the two Charlton players. He chested it, kneed it and hit a looping shot past the hopeless Charlton keeper. What a goal! It was the least we deserved.
They say lightening doesn't strike twice but it did. On eighty-eight minutes a Luke Young cross from the right side of the box was converted by Darren Bent. We nearly struck back instantly with Johnson who saw his curling shot tipped over by Thomas Myhre. The Charlton keeper certainly earned his wage today.
Sometimes results don't always tell the true story of a game and this was certainly true today. Despite making nine changes, we put in a very good performance and were robbed to have not come away with anything from the game.
March is a big month - we've got seven games this month and if we get past Roma add another on top of that! We've been limited to the personnel we have been able to field over recent months. That means players have had to play in long runs of games - take seventeen year old Lee Cattermole for example. Now we've got players back from injury why not utilise the squad? After all it's a squad game! Look what the break in Spain has done for performance levels?
The changes today gave the opportunity for some of the squad players to stake a claim for a permanent starting place. Johnson was a big positive from the game and deserved his man of the match award. Again, another academy player who looks to have a good future ahead of him. The squad players need these type of games to make an impact, otherwise how would they get involved?
Ultimately you could say that the nine changes didn't pay off, but that's not taking anything away from the performance. We were ultimately punished for not putting away our chances and you can't afford to do that at this level. But we can take heart from today's performance. All focus now turns to Wednesday's massive return leg with Roma. With the big players returning fresh from today's rest, a draw or better will see Steve McClaren proving to have made a master stroke.
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