Football: Charlton's dangerous hopes

Charlton Athletic 1 Coventry City 1

THE WISEST words of the afternoon came from the stadium announcer at Charlton's impressively refurbished Valley ground. "Take care, it's a long way to fall," he advised fans departing the vertiginous heights of the upper tier of the new West stand. This is advice that the two teams leaving the field far below would do well to heed after a 1-1 draw left both in the bottom seven of the Premiership with only one win apiece.

The red-and-white element of a sell-out crowd had high expectations after Charlton's dynamic performance at Anfield last week. "If we can play like that Liverpool, what can we do to Coventry?" was the question on the lips of the buoyant 20,000. The Sky Blues, in contrast, were still smarting from a 5-1 home defeat by Newcastle, described as a "freak result" by manager Gordon Strachan.

Both Strachan's Coventry and Alan Curbishley's Charlton have resourceful and talented players, but need to be sharper and more decisive in their all-round play. Eddie Youds struggled manfully with Dion Dublin, whose aim for the afternoon seemed to be to disorientate and dominate the ex- Everton centre-half. Neil Redfearn's running and powerful shooting made him a menace in the Charlton midfield.

A rather shapeless first half is probably best forgotten and Coventry took the lead when fatigue opened up space across the pitch in the second period. Roland Nilsson crossed a splendid diagonal ball into Gary Breen who, unchallenged, knocked the ball back to Dublin before Noel Whelan tucked the ball away from a tight angle.

Coventry's play then briefly assumed an adrenalin-fuelled fluency, with crisp first-time football from Whelan and Nilsson threatening Charlton down the right-hand side. But within five minutes, Charlton were level thanks to an unfortunate slip from defender Mark Edworthy - who lost his footing under pressure from substitute Keith Jones - which allowed striker Andy Hunt to claim his 100th career goal.

"We had a couple of chances to go two or three up and then someone slips on their backside," was Strachan's nutshell summary of the afternoon.

"Let Me Entertain You", Robbie Williams sang out over the PA system before the game. While the teams rarely lived up to his promise, they did their best. One wonders, come May, if their best will be enough.

Goals: Whelan (69) 1-0; Hunt (74) 1-1.

Charlton Athletic (4-4-2): Ilic; Powell, Rufus, Youds, Mills; Mortimer, Redfearn, Kinsella, Newton (K Jones, 50); Hunt, Mendonca (S Jones, 86). Substitutes not used: Brown, Konchesky, Royce.

Coventry City (4-4-2): Hedman; Burrows (Edworthy, 15), Shaw, Breen, Nilsson; Shilton (Hall, 55), Boateng, Telfer, Quinn; Dublin, Whelan. Substitutes not used: Ogrizovic, Soltvedt, Wallemme.

Bookings: Coventry: Breen, Telfer.

Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees).

Attendance: 20,043.

Man of the match: Redfearn.