Frustrated front men hit another brick wall

Photo: Alan Howarth

SO CLOSE . . . Cedric Evina fires in a shot from the left which beats goalkeeper John Sullivan, but flies narowly wide of the post.

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Athletic 0, Charlton 0
THINKING outside the box might not immediately strike anyone as a suitable strategy to apply to Athletic’s goals problem.

It is very much inside the penalty area where the disease – a box-pox, if you like – is at its worst.

Against a visiting Charlton side manning the barricades as if they needed only a point to be promoted, rather than to shore up a place in npower League One’s no-man’s land, the same old truth was evident once again.

One team really wanted to get their heads and bodies in the way of deliveries flighted in towards the goalmouth and one didn’t to enough to win those battles.

No prizes for determining which side was which.

Too often, excellent crosses whipped into scoring positions had nobody anticipating in order to finish them off.

It was as if Athletic’s forwards were waiting for that one ball which arrives once per season, virtually scoring a goal in itself as a result of landing perfectly on the recipient’s forehead.

Instead of making runs that drew Charlton defenders out of position – even if the ball will never be delivered there – Athletic too often look like mannequins in attacking positions.

Most goals in football come from mistakes. Athletic’s orthodoxy, though, means these have been a rarity from opposition defences since Christmas.

It must be wearying to still be reading statistics of the like that show Athletic have now scored in one home game out of the last six; that only two of the last 13 matches have featured goals from Dickov’s side; and that the main focal point of attack, Oumare Tounkara, last found the net 18 games ago.

Christian Dailly’s red card for violent conduct after only 35 minutes essentially transformed this fixture into a game of attack-versus-defence.

Chris Powell’s visitors, robbed of the services of their 37-year-old captain after a stupid, if half-understandable wild reaction to being given a wet-shave – only without the foam and using Reuben Reid’s studded boot as a blade – metaphorically rolled up their sleeves and defended stoutly.

Substitute centre-back Jon Fortune, in particular, stood out, as did goalkeeper John Sullivan, drafted in for the game on loan from Yeovil as a result of an injury to regular custodian Robbie Elliott.

For Athletic, Reid had easily his best showing in an Athletic shirt, Ritchie Jones impressed with his drive in a rare start in central midfield – he came within inches of finding the net on two separate occasions – and Dean Furman orchestrated attacks superbly.

Out wide, Chris Taylor and left-back Cedric Evina, who went close with a couple of fierce and well-saved drives, combined very well at times and produced some promising crosses.

Charlton’s ambition disappeared after the break and for half of the second period at least, they had seven players virtually camped inside their own penalty area.

By then, though, they may even have held an unlikely lead.

Therry Racon was the man to make way for Fortune after Dailly’s dismissal, but the winger went very close for Charlton, forcing Dean Brill into a superb, low near-post stop when sent in for a one-on-one with the Athletic goalkeeper.

Racon caused a stir for the wrong reasons by poleaxing Taylor on the touchline in front of the main stand, picking up a yellow card for his trouble.

Preceding his chance in the first half was a shout for a penalty for Athletic after only 55 seconds.

Michael Stewart’s illegal challenge was adjudged to have taken place a few centimetres outside the box and the resulting free-kick from Taylor travelled a foot over the top.

This was followed by a near-post shot from Aidan White that Sullivan did well to stop and two good strikes from Bradley Wright-Phillips for the south London side, the first of which had Brill going low to make his save.

Only seconds before Racon’s big moment, Taylor was left to put his hand to his head after a swift move ended with a delicious cross which eluded a stretching Tounkara.

Athletic had started extremely brightly and their cause was aided when Dailly flicked his boot back into Reid’s stomach after the striker had tried to win a high ball with his boot.

Reid was booked for the dangerous challenge, but referee Kevin Wright had little option than to show ex-Scotland mainstay Dailly a red card.

Seven minutes into the second half and amid a terrific spell of pressure from the home team, Evina embarked on a mazy dribble which ended with him flashing a left-footed drive across goal, producing a superb fingertip save from Sullivan.

Fortune was forced into a couple of heroic clearances and Jones adjusted his body for a header that clipped the crossbar and landed on the roof of the net off White’s cross.

But the pressure was allowed to ease after Jean-Yves Mvoto let fly wildly from 40 yards. From that point on, Athletic didn’t look quite so assertive.

At the same time, Jones still drove a shot from 20 yards which all but took a flake of paint off the far post and Evina struck one that Sullivan had to beat away.

Mvoto headed straight at the Charlton ‘keeper when well placed and for the last 20 minutes, Sullivan had a relatively quiet time of things as the game meandered to an unsatisfying conclusion – at least, from the home side’s perspective.