da betcris： To celebrate 25 years of the Premier League each week in Football Fancast we’re going to be looking back at a memorable game that took place on the corresponding date. This time out we revisit an out-and-out thriller where all eight goals were scored by players who were – or previously were – on Charlton’s books.
da blaze casino： After gaining promotion to the Premier League at the start of the century Charlton Athletic were predictably predicted by one and all to swiftly return to the Championship. After all that’s what happened two years prior: a nine month taste of the big time that consisted of defeats and draws on a weekly basis. Why would it be any different this time?
What few factored in were the lessons learned and with the club in a healthy stasis and run so sensibly they soon became a model example for clubs of a similar stature and long-serving manager Alan Curbishley began to lay the foundations for a lengthy stay. While retaining a talented and unified squad that included a 20-year-old Scott Parker, Mark Kinsella, and future England left-back Chris Powell the two main summer recruits of Claus Jensen (from Bolton) and Jonatan Johansson (fresh from winning the SPL with Rangers) proved to be a snip at a combined sum of £8m and took the team on further. That campaign the Addicks shocked pretty much everyone by finishing inside the top ten.
Now though came the hard part: the avoidance of the much dreaded second season syndrome.
To that end it was not going great for the south London side in 2000/01 when they returned from an international break to face a similarly struggling West Ham United on November 19th. Granted a fortnight earlier they had beaten Arsenal 4-2 at Highbury – an astonishing result by any measure – but preceding that a series of disappointing reverses had left Charlton languishing near the foot of the table. With the Hammers woefully short of confidence and depleted too of Joe Cole, Freddie Kanoute, and Steve Lomas through injury this then was a chance for Curbishley’s men to put down a marker and reaffirm some self-belief.
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That self-belief took a knock just three minutes in when Paul Kitson scored his first goal in claret and blue for over a year. The celebration may have been somewhat restrained due to the striker’s previous loan spell at the Valley but the relief was evident throughout a team that had struggled terribly on the road that term. A month earlier they had suffered consecutive batterings at Everton and Blackburn that saw twelve goals conceded.
Insecurities must have resurfaced then when Jason Euell equalised and they presumably hit peak levels when Euell repeated himself minutes later putting the home side 2-1 up. For each strike the Hammers’ defence was to blame but equally Curbishley is deserving of credit for an early tactical switch to 3-5-2 that saw Parker and Kinsella – the latter making his 200th appearance for Charlton – boss the central areas. For the rest of this enthralling game the Addicks carved out numerous chances against West Ham’s pitiful rear-guard. Really it could have finished 10-4.
At the break though it was ‘merely’ 2-2 with Kitson slotting home his second and once again limiting himself to a diplomatic clenched fist.
The second period brought little reprieve for the faint-hearted. Charlton got their nose in front again and furthermore began to dictate the rhythm of the game so their nose was suitably put out of joint when Kitson bagged an entirely unexpected hat-trick against the run of play. By now a half-fit Cole was on, for his first run-out of the season and Hammers boss Glenn Roeder had another ace up his sleeve in Jermain Defoe, impatiently watching proceedings from the bench.
Two years earlier Defoe had been lured across the capital in highly contentious circumstances with the FA eventually demanding that West Ham pay compensation to Charlton for ‘poaching’ their starlet. With this in mind it was inevitable that it was the 19-year-old sub who volleyed home what everyone assumed would be the winner.
That was the headline being prepared for print. That was the story. Until seconds before the final whistle a brief game of head-tennis inside the Hammers’ box directed the ball up and behind Johansson ten yards from goal. A picture-perfect overhead kick evaded the flailing arms of Shaka Hislop and mayhem ensued. It was a fantastical finale that was entirely fitting for a nigh-on perfect 90 minutes of football.
What happened next?
Two month-long spells of decent results were sufficient to keep ‘Second Season Syndrome’ away from the Valley. Curbishley’s team would go on to make a habit of over-achieving, confounding expectations, and avoiding the drop.
West Ham recovered well from their initial troubles and eventually rose to 7th just missing out on European football. Eight clean sheets from this game onwards is a testament to Roeder’s work on the training pitch.