Charlton Athletic’s Under 21s secured a hard-fought point on Monday, as Hamza Serrar’s young side twice came from behind to claim a draw against Queens Park Rangers in an enthralling encounter at The Valley.
Goals from Karoy Anderson, Euan Williams, and Ryan Viggars meant that Charlton earned a point against their West London opposition. The young Addicks were reduced to ten men with 30 minutes remaining in the match, as captain Euan Williams was forced off due to injury with Charlton already having utilised all of their substitutions earlier on.
Fast Start
A superb strike from Karoy Anderson gave the Addicks the lead inside four minutes. Euan Williams’ corner was played out to Anderson on the edge of the box, who slotted past the keeper and into the bottom left corner.
Addicks boss Hamza Serrar was forced into a change on the twenty-minute mark as Nazir Bakrin suffered an awkward landing following an aerial encounter with former Addick Macauley Bonne, with Toby Bower replacing the centre half. Just minutes later Rangers levelled the scoring, as Rafferty Pedder rifled home from close range.
The visitors were given a good opportunity to score a second on the stroke of half-time, as Charlton full-back Zack Mitchell brought down Olamide Shodipo in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. The 25-year-old dusted himself down and took the resulting penalty, but saw his chipped effort comfortably claimed by Ahmed Kone.
The Addicks would however go into the interval a goal down, conceding as a result of an own goal by Matt Dench who was on the wrong end of a drilled ball across the box. Charlton went into the break with work to do, with the hosts trailing 1-2 at the break.
Man Down
The second half began with Kone yet again making an important save from close range. 8 minutes after the restart, a brilliant counterattack from Serrar’s side culminated in attacking midfielder Euan Williams arriving at the back post and heading home the equaliser.
QPR responded well after the leveller and midfielder George Thomas put the R’s ahead for the second time in the game with a straightforward finish on the hour mark. The Addicks went a man down minutes later as skipper Williams limped off injured and could not be replaced due to Serrar having not any remaining substitutions.
Fight Back
Despite this disadvantage, Charlton continued to threaten and Ryan Viggars put them level in the 73rd minute, latching onto Jacob Roddy’s through ball and striking superbly into the top corner.
Within the dying embers of the game, Charlton looked to push for a winner, with a well-hit effort from Jason Adigun hitting the crossbar. At the other end, Kone yet again was the saviour for his side, as he palmed wide a curling shot from Shodipo and then tipped over a headed effort from Bonne following the resulting corner. Not long after, the referee blew the final whistle and brought an end to a brilliant six-goal thriller at The Valley, with 3-3 the final score.
Serrar Says
Serrar reflected on the result, “I thought in the first half they had more of the ball and we knew they were going to do that, because we had a few problems with their rotation, playing in between the lines. Although we had the early goal, we found it difficult to deal with them. Eventually, we worked them out and we started to be narrow, looking to hurt them on the break and in the second half we nullified the threat and looked the better team”.
“In fairness, I think a draw is the fair result, to us it was like a win being down to 10 men. Playing young players, in that context I believe it is positive, but we can always be greedy and want to have the three points. Their keeper made some very good saves toward the end there. Proud of the performance playing against senior pros, a fantastic afternoon at The Valley”.
Edited by Josh Morton
