Fleetwood Town made it two wins in a week at The Valley as they came out on top in their 2-1 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday afternoon.
A barnstorming opening goal from Shaun Rooney kicked off the tie midway through the first half, with an equaliser coming just before the break by Jes Rak-Sakyi. The game was decided though from an unlikely source as Harrison Holgate headed home from a corner to win the tie in London.
The hosts started the game at The Valley the better side as they grew into the game straight away after kick-off, Town weren’t helped though on the afternoon as captain Danny Andrew had to be replaced by Rooney after he went down with an injury nine minutes in.
Supporters had to wait 23 minutes for the first chance to come and it fell to Fleetwood as Rooney crossed the ball into Scott Robertson, whose effort went over the bar. Another one came soon after as Jayden Stockley got on the end of Phoenix Patterson’s cross but headed wide of the mark.
A couple of minutes later, Charlton had a chance of their own as Corey Blackett-Taylor played a cross in from the left towards the head of Rak-Sakyi, but his header goes wide of the mark and is easily cleared away by Harrison Holgate and the Town backline.
Sometimes you can’t plan on certain moments and the opening goal came from out of nowhere. After a cross was cleared by the home defence, Rooney decided to take on a half-volley from 25 yards, with the strike flying straight into the top-right corner of the goal to make it 1-0.
The hosts grew back into the game though and after chances from George Dobson and Scott Fraser went over the crossbar, Sean Clare picked out Rak-Sakyi who went on a brilliant solo run before curling his strike past the keeper and into the side-netting to level it up seconds before the break.
At the start of the second half, Scott Brown’s men came out to play and they did, with Phoenix Patterson forcing a low save from the Charlton keeper, pushing the ball out for a corner. A goal came from the resulting set-piece as Holgate nodded it home to give Town the lead in the 52nd minute.
The next chance would come 15 minutes later, after a flurry of substitutions for both sides, as Chuks Aneke worked a yard of space inside the Fleetwood box and struck the ball towards goal, but it was an easy save for Lynch between the sticks.
A big decision had to be made by the referee with 10 minutes to go as two substitutes in Promise Omochere and Cian Hayes link up well on a counter, with the latter being taken down by Ryan Inniss just outside the box – the Charlton defender was shown a red card for the challenge.
With 12 long minutes added on at the end, it was a slog for the Cods to finish the game out, but they managed the injury time well. Harvey Macadam saw his shot in the 95th minute blocked well and then, after a quick throw-in to Omochere, he picked out Hayes whose shot was also blocked.
Addicks XI: Maynard-Brewer (GK), Dobson (C), Bonne, Kilkenny (Aneke 66’), Rak-Sakyi, Fraser, Blackett-Taylor, Inniss, Penney (Campbell 82’), Clare (Sessegnon 61’), Ness.
Unused subs: Wollacott (GK), Thomas, Morgan, Payne.
Town XI: Lynch (GK), Andrew (C) (Rooney 9’), Wiredu, Mendes Gomes (Macadam 55’), Stockley (Omochere 66’), Robertson, Marriott (Hayes 66’), Warrington, Holgate, Patterson (Nsiala 55’), Johnston.
Unused subs: McMullan (GK), Dolan.
Attendance: 12,436 (121 away).