Score predictions - Charlton away

Having returned to winning ways at Burton, we travel to the Valley, and one of our bogey grounds in an attempt to get some momentum up ahead of the play-offs. The bookies have us as marginal 6/4 favourites, with the Addicks priced slightly longer at 9/5.

Charlton are on an unbeaten run of 10 games, though they've drawn 7 of those, including their last 3. Those 3 wins at the end of February and beginning of March, are their only 3 wins in 23 league matches. Their victory over Derby at the end of February ended a winless run of 18 in all competitions. That 10 game unbeaten run has seen them shuffle away from the relegation zone, and the 8 point gap they now have should be sufficient to see them safe.

At home Charlton are unbeaten in 4, though again, they've only won 1 of those 4, which was against Carlisle. The win over the Cumbrians is their only win at the Valley in 10 in the league, stretching back to the end of November. For context, they have 27 points from 20 home league games, whereas we have 31 from 21. The Addicks have lost at home to Derby, Peterborough and Bolton, though have recently held Portsmouth to a draw, and were the better side (judging by the stats) in a recent home draw with Lincoln.

At the Valley, our record is poor, though it has improved considerably in the 21st century. Prior to 2000, we'd never won away at Charlton, losing 13 and drawing 7. In the last 15 or so years however, we've faired much better, winning 3, drawing 1 and losing 3. That being said, the 3 defeats have been on our last 3 visits. Our 3 consecutive wins between 2008 and 2014 were by an aggregate scoreline of 6-2. A first half brace from Jon Macken and a Darren Moore effort saw us win 3-1 in the first of that trilogy. Tomasz Cywka was the winning goalscorer 4 years later on our next visit to the Valley, and Jean Yves M'Voto followed by an unlikely Tom Kennedy winner, sealed the points in our last victory at the Valley, 10 years ago. Macken aside, we tend to have unlikely match winners when we do win at the valley, so expect a Robbie Cundy, Max Watters or Josh Benson cameo.

The obvious danger man for Charlton is Alfie May. The 30 year old poacher has struck 20 times in league 1 for the 3rd consecutive season. He's now 3 goals clear at the top of the scoring charts again despite scoring just once between mid December and the end of February. May has just 1 assist all season suggesting he's often the man in the right place at the right time, rather than being a nuisance around the box. So the key to unlocking Charlton could be as simple as keeping May quiet, as we've managed in his previous appearances against us. 19 year old Daniel Kanu is on 10 league goals for the season too, though 4 came in a loan spell at Southend at the start of the season; he's also made his international bow recently for Sierra Leone too. Their third top scorer, Miles Leaburn with 3, has been injured since November, suggesting Charlton will be reliant on getting the ball up to Alfie May. Their goalscorer at Oakwell, Corey Blackett-Taylor, now plays for Derby having made the switch in January, and was on 8 league goals at the time.

Referee Ben Speedie has by far the lowest card average of any referee we've had this season. Issuing an average of 2.76 yellows a game and just 4 reds in 30 games. He took charge of Charlton's 1-1 draw at the Valley with local side Cray Valley Paper Mills in the FA Cup in November, not issuing any cards. Coincidentally, his last Barnsley game was our 2-1 home win vs Fleetwood in December 2022, a game notable for Mr Speedie awarding Fleetwood a penalty with just 13 minutes left to play, but failing to issue the reds one just a few minutes later when James Norwood (I think) appeared to be felled. Robbie Cundy scored the winner from the corner awarded instead of the foul, just 4 minutes from time.

Its a difficult game to predict as our record in London in general isn't great, though our away record this season is the best in the country. Charlton's long unbeaten run points to them being more difficult to beat than they were under their previous manager, though doesn't suggest they're steamrolling teams either. We've now won 4 away from home in a row, and are unbeaten in 11 in the league away from Oakwell, with 7 wins. We've lost just once in 23 away games (including the PO SF last season) a run spanning 365 days come Saturday. Both sides have a tendency to start slowly, with the difference being, we generally still come out on top. Charlton haven't scored first in a home game since New Year's Day. I'm going for a narrow reds win, 1-2 with McAtee and Kane getting the goals.

 

Valliants 1 Colliers 0

 

2-1 win for the Reds.

 

2-0 Reds.

 

2-1 defeat

 

5 - 0, C,O,Y,R.

 

1-2 win Cole & Connell

 

Our stutter continues at the team who've taken Lincoln's role as draw specialists 1-1.

 

0-2 reds

 

1-1

 

1-1 with a Cole point saver late on

 

Which Reds?

 

The team that will play in black

 

1-1 nailed on here,.

 

I'd take 1-1 & a Cole goal. Need him back firing for the playoffs.

 

2-1
Nathan Jones has our number.
Cole with our goal

 

2-1 Charlton, giving us 5 dead rubbers to get ready for the playoffs.

 

This game has got 1.1 written all over it...

So, I'll have Barnsley winning a 6 goal thriller 4.2...

 

Feeling a 1-1 for this.

 

2-3, last minute winner from Devante off the bench.