Jason Euell’s Addicks made it nine games unbeaten by claiming a 2-1 victory against Queens Park Rangers at The Valley on Monday afternoon.
Despite an encoruaging start to the game for QPR featuring some promising attacks, it was Charlton that took the lead courtesy of Brandon Hanlan just six minutes into the game. It wasn’t long until the away side levelled, however, through Ebere Eze’s deflected finish in the 28th minute.
Rangers’ afternoon took an awful turn when they were reduced to 10 men just before the half time, when AJ Folkes picked up a second yellow card with a shocking challenge on George Lapslie two minutes after Folkes’s first yellow.
Style
The Addicks took full advantage of the situation by making their numerical advantage count in the second half as triallist Josh Parker headed home the winner in fine style.
Charlton went into this game with a 4-3-3 formation notably also with Hanlan, Ezri Konsa and Dillon Phillips also getting a start in the teams. The composition and hard work of the home side in the first half soon proved its value as they broke the deadlock in the first six minutes.
Lapslie freed Hanlan down the left with a beautiful pass, he intend cut inside before curling into the bottom corner of the net to put The Addicks in front.
Euell’s side nearly doubled their advantage when El-Hadji Ba’s well-calculated pass found Parker and freed him on goal but he unselfishly released the ball to Hanlan from a tight corner rather than him having a go himself only for The Hoops defence to recover quickly and clear their lines.
Punished
The Addicks had various chances but failed to take them as the game progressed only to see themselves punished when QPR took full advantage of their first attack on the 28th minutes to level the game. A great tackle from Ezri Konsa saw him intercept a cross from the left, but the loose ball dropped for Eze, who slotted comfortably into the bottom corner.
An untimely challenge on Kevin Foley from QPR’s Folkes saw his name registered in the referee’s notebook on the 35 minutes. Two minutes later Folkes was giving the matching order when he launched an outrageous tackle on Lapslie.
Both sides headed in level at the break but it was the 10-man Rangers that had a great start to the second period by enjoying a fair amount of possession. Just before the hour mark, Eze struck the woodwork from a free kick.
Acrobatic
After conceding early in the game, the Rangers goalkeeper Seny Dieng was certainly the busier of the two keepers and demonstrated his quality with several great saves most notably from Foley’s volley and denying Charlton’s substitute Louis Yamfam a goal from an acrobatic strike.
Despite couple of brilliant saves from the Hoops stopper, he came undone in the 72nd minute, as Parker restored Charlton’s advantage, meeting Archie Edwards’ deep cross into the box with a fine header nestling into the bottom corner.
The 10 men of Rangers were still trying to find a late leveller, but couldn’t find a way to break down the home side’s compact defence and at the end Euell’s side went away with a well-deserved three points.
