Lee Bowyer likened Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss at Burton Albion to the 5-3 defeat his Charlton side suffered at Scunthorpe United during the 2018-19 promotion season.
Speaking after his side’s visit to the Pirelli Stadium, the Addicks manager said: “I think we had one of these crazy nights before didn’t we at Scunny [Scunthorpe] two years ago. We just gave amazing goals away all the time.
“I said to Jacko [Johnnie Jackson, assistant manager] when they got their third goal tonight that it reminds me of that game on that Tuesday night. It was just unbelievable.”
A Night To Forget At Glanford Park
It was a similarly catastrophic start on that Tuesday two years ago in Scunthorpe as it was at Burton. Charlton again found themselves behind in the early stages when Charlie Goode fired the hosts in front just three minutes into the encounter after finding himself unmarked inside the six-yard box from a corner.
The Addicks made it 1-1 when Lyle Taylor headed home and four minutes later the forward turned provider when he picked out Joe Aribo for Charlton’s second of the night.
Scunthorpe were back in the ascendancy though, when Cameron Borthwick-Jackson netted twice in eight minutes to give The Iron a half-time lead. The Manchester United loanee beat Addicks’ keeper Jed Steer from 20 yards out to level the scores before giving Stuart McCall’s side the lead again after a one-two exchange with Stephen Humphrys.
It was Charlton who struck next as Joe Aribo notched his second of the game when he found a way past the Scunthorpe shot-stopper on 69 minutes after again being found by Taylor.
The hosts responded almost instantly when Josh Morris converted from the penalty spot to restore Scunthorpe’s lead after Jason Pearce was adjudged by referee Darren Drysdale to have handled the ball from Funsu Ojo’s cross.
Humphrys ensured that Scunthorpe’s unbeaten run would stretch to seven games when he tapped home from close range in stoppage time.
A Strong Case Of Déjà vu?
Prior to the game at Glandford Park in October 2018, Bowyer’s side were unbeaten in six League One outings before succumbing to the underwhelming 5-3 defeat. It was all too similar on Tuesday night as Charlton arrived at the Pirelli Stadium unbeaten in eight.
Speaking after the loss at Scunthorpe, the Charlton boss couldn’t hide his disappointment: “For me, watching that game, this is three points dropped. We’ve got to be winning the game.
“We ain’t been like that before. How many goals did they score from set-plays? You could say it was a good game for the neutral, but it was a horrendous game for myself.”
The Charlton manager’s frank assessment back then is certainly reminiscent of the one he gave on Tuesday night at the Pirelli Stadium, and rightly so.
His Charlton side had kept six clean sheets on the spin in League One, so to score two goals against a side who started the game bottom of the table and come away with nothing is disappointing, to say the least.
Bouncing Back
Charlton’s defeat at Scunthorpe was an obvious low-point during that 2018-19 season, though it is certainly worth pointing out that the campaign concluded with promotion back to the Sky Bet Championship after a three-season absence so it’s not all doom and gloom. Bowyer rallied his side then and will attempt to rally his side again now.
While the performance on Tuesday night at Burton Albion is certainly not one for Addicks players to be proud of, in the grand scheme of things it is just one game in a 46-game season and Bowyer was quick to point out that it is important not to get carried away.
“It’s one defeat. This is a bad night at the office,” said the 43-year-old.
“No one likes to lose so they’ll be disappointed. We’ll go again on Thursday.”
Charlton don’t have long to keep their heads down and will already have turned their attention to Saturday’s encounter – another away trip to face Ipswich Town at Portman Road (3pm).
