Charlton Athletic were condemned to their fourth consecutive defeat on Tuesday as Huddersfield Town claimed a last-gasp 1-0 win at the Valley.
A 92nd-minute winner from Huddersfield’s academy graduate Matty Daly left the Addicks with their fourth consecutive defeat on an uninspiring evening in south-east London.
The hosts welcomed back top-scorer Lyle Taylor to their matchday squad, with the Charlton number 9 taking his place on the bench along with former Crystal Palace midfielder and new signing, Joe Ledley.
Former Charlton forward, Karlan Grant, started for the Terriers upon his return to SE7, whilst Danny Cowley also handed Ramani Edmonds-Green his debut at right-back.
Horrendous Conditions
In horrendous conditions at the Valley, it was the hosts who started the brighter of the two sides, with Jonathan Leko getting the better of Florent Haderjonaj down Charlton’s right side, but his effort was caught Huddersfield keeper, Kamila Grabara.
Dillion Phillips was then called into action, Town’s Josh Korma broke with pace and fired a fierce low effort that Phillips was equal too, at the other end, promising youngster, Alfie Doughty fired high and wide after getting into a promising position on the edge of the 18-yard box.
Koroma was Huddersfield’s live wire, having to be bustled off the ball by Naby Sarr just as he was about to pull the trigger, with Steve Moniue angling a drive towards the near post which Phillips did well to turn behind, and Christopher Schindler headed over from the resulting set-piece.
Grant was getting a fractious reception on his return to the Valley and he had a great chance to silence the hosts’ fans, but he skewed his effort after being picked out well by Koroma on the left in the last action of a relatively poor half of football for both sides.
Huddersfield’s Pressure
The second half started with the visitors pushing the hosts back, and Grant nearly caught out Phillips, but his low arrowing effort was clawed behind by the Charlton stopper.
Moniue had a excellent chance to open the scoring but he headed over from a Grant corner, the Addicks were still a threat and an incisive breakaway led by Ben Purington, who bombed forward from full back, found Connor Gallagher, but the Chelsea loanee’s effort was smothered by Town bodies and the visitors cleared away.
The biggest cheer of the night so far came with 21 minutes left when Lyle Taylor made his long-awaited return after a lengthy spell on the sidelines with injury, to replace Leko in Lee Bowyer’s attempt to tilt the game in the hosts’ favour.
Late Blow
Charlton did then press further forward as the clock ticked into the final ten, with Chris Solly having a effort blocked by Haderjonaj.
The hosts then thought they’d broken the deadlock with four minutes to go as Taylor prodded home, but the linesman’s flag went up with Sarr being adjudged to have been in an offside position as he set up Taylor.
The game was to have one more chance though, as Huddersfield substitute Danny Simpson found Haderjonaj on the left who looked up and pulled the ball back to 18-year-old Matty Daly, who swept the ball home to send the travelling Terriers fans into raptures and ensure the three points are heading back to west Yorkshire.
FT – Charlton Athletic 0-1 Huddersfield Town
Charlton – Phillips, Lockyer, Pearce, Sarr, Solly, Pratley, Gallagher, Doughty (Vennings 73), Purrington, Bonne, Leko (Taylor 69)
Unused Subs – Matthews, Oshiladja, Ledley, Morgan, Maynard -Brewer (GK)
Huddersfield – Grabara, Redmonds – Green, Schnindler, Goren-Stankovic, Haderjonaj, Kachunga, Hogg, Bacuna, Koroma (Simpson 73), Moniue (Daly 76), Grant
Unused Subs – Coleman (GK), Harrat, High, Austerfield, Jackson
